Kate Garraway has expressed her shock after the latest details of her financial struggles were revealed following her husband Derek Draper's death.
The presenter, 58, has openly discussed how she has accumulated debts between £500,000 and £800,000 while caring for her late husband, who died on January 3, 2024 at the age of 56 after a long battle with the long-term effects of Covid.
She has also previously revealed that the £16,000 monthly cost of her late husband's care was more than her salary from ITV and had resulted in her racking up huge debts.
Now, a recent liquidator’s report has highlighted the significant tax liabilities still outstanding from Derek’s defunct psychotherapeutic company, Astra Aspera.
The company, which was jointly controlled by Kate, went into liquidation with substantial debts, including a considerable sum owed to HMRC.
According to filings with Companies House, Kate has been working to pay off the debt, with a revised, lower claim from HMRC offering some relief.
The latest claim from HMRC now stands at £288,054, a sharp reduction from the £716,822 initially submitted in 2023, as revealed in the documents.
The reasons for the reduction in the payment have not been disclosed, and the filing notes that there are “insufficient funds to pay a dividend to secondary preferential creditors.”
So far, Kate has reportedly repaid £21,000 towards the debt, according to The Sun.
In response to the latest developments, a spokesperson for Kate told The Standard that the TV star is “shocked” by the figures presented and does not recognise them.
The spokesperson added that Kate is in regular contact with HMRC to ensure that she meets her financial obligations.
The statement read: “Kate has met all that the liquidators of Derek's company have asked for and more over the past four years. She doesn't recognise these figures and is shocked that it's being presented in this way by them.
“Caring for Derek and supporting her family when Derek could no longer run his own businesses has taken a huge financial toll on her but she's determined to put things right. She is in constant contact with HMRC to make sure she honours what's required from Derek's now-defunct company.”
In January, Kate said she had been left with “excessive, unpayable debt” over her late husband’s care costs as she clashed with the Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, she told the politician that one of the overriding challenges had been “dealing with the funding of care”.
“At the time of his death, there were two appeals that hadn't been heard for funding,” she told the Health Secretary.
“It kept on getting pushed back and pushed back. In the meantime, and 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, unpayable debt because of it, and if I'm in that position, what are other people going to be? People can't afford four more years of this?"
