Following two days of national media attention, Penarth Town Council has unanimously decided to award Handymen UK the grant they applied for.

A Council task group (chaired by Cllr Liz Fahy) had previously recommended that the council reject the application on the grounds of "gender discrimination".

The maintenance company will receive the full £1,000 as part of the Independent Traders Contribution Fund, designed to help local businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company intends to spend the sum on redeveloping its website and upgrading its marketing signage.

Prior to the matter being put to Council, Cllr Fahy made the following statement:

"As you are aware, the purpose of the task group for the fund is to scrutinise, ask questions and make recommendations to the council.

"My concern in question at the time of looking at the application for Handymen UK was 1) did the Handymen UK workforce reflect what it said on the tin (i.e. was it a group of tradesmen) or 2) was the company name being used as an outdated generic term for both men and women.

"Time has moved on. We're all used to using terms such as firefighters and police officers in order to refer to both men and women.

"The company was asked for clarification on their employment practices and I am satisfied that the company name does not reflect its employment practices and that this company recruits both sexes.

"So, the term gender discrimination used in the report was an officer's note on our query and will be replaced by the councillor's decision."

The action received unanimous support, with Cllr Kathryn McCaffer commenting:

"I think that bearing in mind the type of business this is, it is important that they get all the help we can give them. I fully support the application."

Since Nub News broke the story on Tuesday, various national newspapers picked it up and bombarded the small town council with media enquiries.

The Times, Mail Online, the Mirror, Metro and Wales Online all ran the story (among others) to varying degrees of accuracy.

"It has been an interesting few days," Cllr Fahy told Nub News.

We are awaiting comment from James Squire-Wood, Handymen UK manager.

He has declined to engage with national papers after reading an early report from the Mail Online he referred to as "fabricated".