Kate Garraway 'forced to dip into pension pot' to pay for Derek Draper's care

Kate Garraway has resorted to withdrawing money from her pension pot to pay the huge bills for her late husband Derek Draper's medical care.

The Good Morning Britain presenter, 57, spoke about the issue she faces during an interview with Lindy Kirk. Lindy appeared on the breakfast show this Monday, May 6, and spoke about being forced to use £15,000 from her pension savings to pay for a hip operation after being told she could expect an 18-month wait on the NHS.

She said she had used a lump sum of cash that she gained after retiring. And Kate said she had taken some of her own retirement savings early to tackle her own bills.

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She told the show's guest: "I'm doing something similar myself. I have just 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.

"People are having to do things - it wasn't a huge pension in the first place - which aren't what they saved for, and some people don't have any savings at all."

Former New Labour lobbyist Derek, who was married to the Good Morning Britain presenter, fell ill with the virus almost four years ago. The dad-of-two spent more than a year in hospital after becoming extremely ill and suffering long-lasting effects of coronavirus.

He died at the age of 56 following a long battle with the illness, its lasting impacts and a heart attack.

The presenter has previously said that she's in thousands of pounds worth of debt paying for the round-the-clock care Derek needed during his four-year battle with the long-term impacts of Covid-19.

The Smooth radio host revealed during an ITV documentary that she was spending £16,000 a month on basic care for her husband before his death in January. Kate had said the cost of his basic care exceeded her ITV salary and did not factor in his therapies, the mortgage payments or other household expenses.

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