Is their a penalty for taking the toefl test instead of taking the ielts.

Is I understood it 100 ibt toefl are 7.0 ielts

Cardiff for example asks for 100 ibt but just for 6.5 in ielts.

Durham asks for 7.0 ielts and for 110 ibt. The same with Cambridge.

push

Sometimes there seems to be an imbalance in the required points, I agree with you. But instead of worrying, you can take advantage of that - participate in both tests and apply with the convenient grade.