Here is your Friday update, covering:
- Support for older residents to claim Pension Credit
- Hubs and libraries offer warm welcome once again
- Cardiff gains coveted accolade as a ‘Gold Sustainable Food Places' city
- Cardiff Landlord Loses Appeal After Being Fined £37,000
Support for older residents to claim Pension Credit
Cardiff Council's Money Advice team is urging older people in the city, to check if they are eligible to claim Pension Credit.
Pension Credit is a valuable benefit, worth £2,677 a year on average to eligible people of State Pension age. It is available to eligible claimants even if they have other income, savings or own their own home.
Yet more than £12.3m worth of Pension Credit is unclaimed in Cardiff, with an estimated 4,300 missed claims in the city.
The Money Advice team is encouraging anyone unsure if they are eligible or not to get in touch as soon as possible. The team can check if a person is entitled to Pension Credit, as well as providing support to ensure residents aren't missing out on any other benefits or discounts that could help to maximise their income.
Hubs and libraries offer warm welcome once again
Warm Welcome spaces are on the way back in Cardiff hubs and libraries again this year to support customers worried about the costs of heating their own homes.
As the weather turns colder, from Monday October 21, our hubs and libraries will once again offer a warm welcome to customers, providing a safe and warm environment where they can meet others to chat, read a book, access services and find out about available support.
This is the third year of the initiative, which seeks to support anyone in the city concerned about the cost of living, including energy prices, over the colder months.
People are welcome to call into any of the city's hubs or libraries during their usual opening hours. Visit https://cardiffhubs.co.uk/ for details. Hot refreshments will also be available but times vary from venue to venue.
Cardiff gains coveted accolade as a ‘Gold Sustainable Food Places' city
The city of Cardiff has been granted a Gold Sustainable Food Places Award, recognising the success of its joined-up approach to building a sustainable and healthy food system.
Cardiff is only the fourth place in the UK to achieve Gold status, following Brighton & Hove, Bristol and Cambridge.
The award submission has been led by Food Cardiff, a city-wide ‘food partnership' of individuals and organisations which connects the people and projects working to promote healthy, environmentally sustainable and ethical food across the city.
Cardiff gained the Silver Sustainable Food Places Award in 2021 and Food Cardiff initiated a city-wide engagement and consultation programme to create the Cardiff Good Food Strategy, with the goal of earning the Gold Award this year. The strategy set out five food goals - a healthy Cardiff; an environmentally sustainable Cardiff; a thriving local economy; a fair and connected food system; and an empowering food movement.
Cardiff Landlord Loses Appeal After Being Fined £37,000
A Cardiff landlord who was fined £37,000 for severe safety violations at his rented property in Broadway, Adamsdown, has had an appeal against the fine rejected, and now faces a bill of just over £42,521, to be paid within six months.
Mr. Nazir Ahmed, 67, from Albany Road, Cardiff, attended Cardiff Crown Court last Friday (October 11th). Represented by his daughter, he requested an adjournment to gather evidence from the South Wales Police to support his claim that he was unable to carry out the necessary repairs due to alleged anti-social behaviour and squatters in the building.
However, the court found this excuse insufficient and refused to adjourn the case.
The issues came to light in April 2023 when South Wales Police contacted South Wales Fire & Rescue Service due to concerns about the property. Soon after, council officers and the fire service inspected the property and found a long list of unacceptable conditions for a rental property.
The two-storey Victorian property on Broadway had been subdivided into four flats without planning permission or any dealings with the council's building control department, or a private building control company.
Key findings included:
- The property entrance was insecure.
- Fire doors to all the flats were defective.
- The electricity supply to the entire property was cut off due to continual attempts to bypass the meters.
- With no electricity, there was no working fire alarm, heating, lighting, or power to run electrical appliances such as the fridge and freezer.
- There was a rodent infestation.
- Kitchen facilities were unsafe and unacceptable.
- The electric meter cupboard wasn't protected from fire.