Garraway confronts Streeting about Derek's death and care costs
Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway marked the first anniversary of Derek Draper's death challenging Health Secretary Wes Streeting on why proposals to the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028.
The presenter sadly reflected on the fact today (January 3) was the first anniversary of her husband's death saying: "I'm thinking about the situation with Derek.
"It actually happens to be the anniversary of his death, the one year anniversary of his death today, which is a day only relevant to me," she said.
However she went on to explan that she was still dealing with crushing debt from caring for her husband in the lead up to his death. "Over the last few weeks the family and I have been talking about the challenges we faced this time last year...and one of the overriding ones...was dealing with the funding of care at the time of his death," she told the MP.
"I'm lucky. I've got an incredible job, which is well paid. I was having to fund the situation. Now I've got excessive and unpayable debt because of it, and if I'm in that position what else are people going to be. People can't afford four more years of this," she told him.
Derek died at the age of 56, after four years of suffering from complications caused by covid. Kate has been very open about the financial issues she faced as she cared for him thoroughout his illness.
Alongside the expenses of looking after her husband's medical needs the presenter was hit with several crippling bills.
She was hit with a £700,000 tax bill after closing Derek's psychotherapy business, Astra Aspera. Added to that, she was landed with a £32,000 bill from liquidators for closing the psychotherapeutic company.
She had already reportedly been left £1.5million in debt from the cost of Derek's care and money owed to the taxman, leaving her now with over £2 million to contend with.
In her ITV documentary, Derek's Story, in April last year, she admitted that in October 2023, she couldn’t even afford to turn on the heating. She also shared that she had taken money out of her pension to pay off Derek’s outstanding medical expenses.
"I have had to withdraw the bit you can tax free from my pension to pay for belated bills for my husband, who has now passed away," she said.
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"People are having to do things, which aren't saved for. It wasn't a huge pension in the first place." She also admitted that her huge ITV salary didn't cover all the expenses his illness had generated.
"Derek's care costs more than my salary from ITV and that's before you pay for a mortgage, before you pay for any household bills, before you pay for anything for the kids," she explained in the award winning film. "I'm not going to pretend that I'm poorly paid, I have an incredible job that I love which is well paid, but it's not enough," she said sadly at the time.
Kate previously admitted that the financial toll of Derek’s illness stemmed from the “changes” she’d made to her home in order to take better care for her husband.
She told The Sun : “Of course it’s been tough financially. As anyone with a loved one who is seriously ill knows, the costs go through the roof in so many ways.
"You have to make changes to your home and it affects your ability to work. I had to take long periods off when Derek was first sick, and of course it affects the overall income for the family as he can no longer work.”
