Angela Rayner child disability: What disabilities does deputy prime minister's son have, is he blind - how many children has she got?
Angela Rayner is under fire after using £160,000 from a trust set up to care for her disabled son to buy a £800,000 seafront flat.
The Deputy Prime Minister sold a 25 per cent share of her house in Ashton-under-Lyne to the trust for £162,500. She said on Wednesday that her son, who was born prematurely, had received an award in 2020 and that a trust was then set up to look after his interests.
The Telegraph reports that the payout followed an 11-year legal battle waged between the Rayners and the hospital where her son was born. Sources suggested the NHS had paid compensation following difficulties during his birth and subsequent care in 2008. Final payments can take years to be made because of the lengthy process for assessing long-term damage.
It’s unclear how much money was paid out as part of the damages claim but it was clearly sufficient for the trust to buy Ms Rayner’s share at the end of January this year. She then used the money as a deposit on the flat in Hove that she purchased in May this year, on which she now has a £650,000 mortgage.
But she paid only £30,000 in stamp duty rather than £70,000 that should have been paid in tax when purchasing a second home. Ms Rayner, having previously insisted she had paid all appropriate tax, now accepts that is an error.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Ms Rayner, 45, insisted she had transferred her share of the house to her 17-year-old son’s trust to ensure he had “stability in the family home”. She applied to court to have confidential information disclosed to enable her to explain her side of what went wrong.
Her son was born prematurely five days after her waters broke at 23 weeks, the locum doctor at the hospital in Stockport telling her she had suffered a miscarriage. Ms Rayner said in a much later interview that “he [the locum doctor] said: “’There’s nothing we can do, he won’t survive’”. But she added that a midwife had intervened and told the duty doctor the next day to administer steroids.
“She got me through the night and got me the steroids, I hung on for five days on the delivery ward and then I went into active labour,” she said. Her son Charlie weighed less than 1lb.
After his birth he was taken to a bigger hospital in Manchester, where he spent six months in the neonatal unit in which he suffered a grade-four bleed to the brain. She has told how he is registered blind and has special educational needs.
Angela has three children - all boys - and became a grandmother at the age of 37 when her eldest, Ryan, then 20, welcomed his little girl Lilith Mae, sparking the nickname 'Grangela'. Ryan was born when Angela was 16 and still in school, and her decision to keep him was what spurred her on to build a better life for them both.
Ms Rayner said on the issue: “I have now been advised that although I did not own any other property at the time of the purchase, the application of complex deeming provisions which relate to my son’s trust gives rise to additional stamp duty liabilities. I acknowledge that due to my reliance on advice from lawyers which did not properly take account of these provisions, I did not pay the appropriate stamp duty at the time of the purchase. I am working with expert lawyers and with HMRC to resolve the matter and pay what is due.
“The arrangements I have set out reflect the reality that family life is rarely straightforward, particularly when dealing with disability, divorce, and the complexities of ensuring your children’s long term security. Every decision I have made has been guided by what I believe to be in my children’s best interests.
“I deeply regret the error that has been made. I am committed to resolving this matter fully and providing the transparency that public service demands. It is for that reason I have today referred myself to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, and will provide him with my fullest cooperation and access to all the information he requires.”