A Penarth Town Council task group has recommended that the Glebe Street maintenance company 'Handymen' does not receive a business grant on the basis of "gender discrimination".

Companies in Penarth were last year urged to apply for the Town Council's 'Independent Traders Contribution Fund', designed to help the high street recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fund offered grants of up to £1000 "to help with the cost of business diversification in relation to the pandemic".

After considering the latest round of applications, the task group (chaired by Councillor Liz Fahy) recommended that six of the eight applications are approved.

Local artist Ivor Davis' application was denied "due to failing to meet criteria and incomplete application." 'Handymen' was accused of "gender discrimination."

No rationale was provided, but this will come to light when the recommendation is discussed and voted on during a committee meeting on Thursday.

The manager of Handymen, resident James Squire-Wood, said he is shocked by the accusation and that the only explanation he can think of is his company's name.

"We're not discriminating towards gender at all and that was never our intention. Even by definition, the word 'handyman' refers to any person and has nothing to do with gender. It's just a name.

"They must have some sort of grounds for putting up this argument, but I want to hear it. We have females who work for us in the company, so it just strikes me as someone attempting to be politically correct through interpreting this incorrectly," James continued.

"I don't agree with [potentially] being denied this grant especially at the moment as it's tough for small businesses."

James said he and his company will consider taking legal advice if their application is rejected on these grounds.

"It is a shock as we have had a lack of contact from the council and when speaking to those that were assisting me with my application, this was never highlighted.

"If they are to reject it, we'll have to take it from there. We don't have any reason to not be eligible for the grant, so if the only grounds is gender discrimination then we're going to have to defend ourselves."

The councillors are recommending that "full awards" should be made to:

Chartrights Accountants – £1,000

Gin 64 - £1,000

Oompa Lumpa - £338.38p

On "grounds of evidence of need" the Peter Wood Residential Letting Agency has received only a 50% award – amounting to £500.

Responding to James' concerns, Cllr Fahy told Nub News:

"The task and finish group, in assessing applications for the Council's grant, raised a query about employment practices in relation to an applicant.

"The applicant has been given opportunity to clarify these queries to allow the application to be decided on at Committee."

We will provide an update once the decision is made on Thursday.