Pensioners left homeless after a fatal blaze in their flats have been told they will receive a payout.

Elderly Gibson Court residents were told they would receive the money during a heated meeting at Thames Ditton Centre on Wednesday, October 12.

But the meeting, held two weeks after the Hinchley Wood blaze that killed 87-year-old Irene Cockerton and left pensioners without their possessions and a place to call home, has left many with more questions than answers.

Keith Edgar, managing director of the building’s managers Peverel Retirement announced insurance company Zurich would be making “substantial payments” to Peverel this week after accepting liability.

This means displaced residents from the 40-flat block will definitely get some form of payout because the insurance company has accepted nobody was at fault for the fire.

But, no figures were given and no concrete plans laid for where Gibson Court residents will go.

Jennifer Hay, who attended the meeting with her mother, said: “Two weeks on and we are no nearer to knowing what is going to happen to these people that have lost everything.

“I do not think we expected much from the meeting, but I was impressed by the attendance. You can see this is not something that is going away because people really care.

“I think it was important they got a feeling of people’s anger, but I do not think they really got it.”

During the meeting it was also announced that £100 a week would be given to elderly people forced to live with relatives, to compensate for additional costs of living, which was labelled a joke by somebody in the audience.

Those living in care homes and hotels temporarily will have to wait for suitable accommodation, and a representative from Countrywide admitted it was struggling to find like-for-like accommodation in the area so they might have to widen the net.

Ian Gibbs from Cunningham Lindsey surveying services said 18 months was the worst case scenario for residents to return to Gibson Court.

If permission is given, Peverel will work to decant everybody’s possessions to a warehouse in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, so there is a safe storage and pick-up point.

It was asked if people could sell up rather than go through the trauma of waiting 18 months and then being uprooted again to move back in.

Mr Edgar told the meeting the money would be used to rebuild the flats, rather than buy people out.

This would mean if somebody needed to sell their flat to make funds to move into a care home, they would have to wait for the flats to be rebuilt before they could sell, but people have been directed to Fairhold Homes for advice.

During the meeting Mr Edgar reassured people about the Peverel group, which has several smaller companies in administration. The entire Peverel group is due to be sold off.

A Peverel Retirement spokesman said: “We can assure people their money will be safe and that it is business as usual at Peverel Retirement.”