The Rich and Poor of Cardiff

An eighth of the city’s working-age population have no formal qualifications.

Just eight city wards each have more than 500 residents out of work – making up more than 50% of the city’s estimated 9,371 jobless total. More than a third of residents in two parts of Butetown receive income-related benefits – but just 6.9% claim in the other part of the former dockland ward, to the east of Lloyd George Avenue. 670 people claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance in Grangetown in December – almost 25 times more than the 27 claimants in Lisvane. Figures show how areas just a few miles apart have huge disparities in wealth, with at least 30% of residents in parts of six different electoral divisions – including Caerau, Fairwater and Splott – dependent on income-related benefits. In parts of eight other wards, such as Rhiwbina and Radyr, fewer than one in 20 people pick up the same payments.

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) shows Cardiff’s share of the all-Wales population living in the most income-deprived communities rose to more than a fifth at the last count. About 110,000 people – a third of the city’s residents – in some 63 areas live in the 20% of the most income-deprived places in the country.

Inequality expert at Cardiff University, Professor Gareth Williams, believes the gap between the city’s richest and poorest is probably increasing – and could get worse