Cornwall Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 196 complaints. Of these, 60 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 80 complaints. We investigated 56 complaints.
More about this data
Complaints dealt with – the total number of complaints and enquiries considered. It is not appropriate to investigate all of them.
Not for us – includes complaints brought to us before the council was given chance to consider it, or the complainant came to the wrong Ombudsman.
Assessed and closed – includes complaints where the law says we’re not allowed to investigate, or it would be a poor use of public funds if we did.
Investigated – we completed an investigation and made a decision on whether we found fault, or no fault.
Complaints upheld – we completed an investigation and found evidence of fault, or the organisation provided a suitable remedy early on.
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council – the council upheld the complaint and we agreed with how it offered to put things right.
Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations – not complying with our recommendations is rare. A council with a compliance rate below 100% should scrutinise the complaints where it failed to comply and identify any learning.
Average performance rates – we compare the annual statistics of similar types of councils to work out an average level of performance. We do this for County Councils, District Councils, Metropolitan Boroughs, Unitary Councils, and London Boroughs.
For more information on understanding our statistics see Interpreting our complaints data.
Complaints dealt with
Not for us
Assessed and closed
Investigated
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Complaints upheld
We investigated 56 complaints and upheld 49.
88% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 80% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Cornwall Council's population, this is 8.5 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
5.3 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 2 out of 49 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
4% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 10% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 43 cases.
In 43 cases we were satisfied with the actions taken.100% compliance rate with recommendations.
This compares to an average of 100% in similar authorities.
Annual letters
We write to councils each year to give a summary of the complaint statistics we record about them,
and their performance in responding to our investigations.
Reports
The Ombudsman has published the following reports against Cornwall Council
Find out more about reports
We issue reports on certain investigations, particularly where there is a wider public interest to do so. Common reasons for reports are significant injustice, systemic issues, major learning points and non-compliance with our recommendations. Issuing reports is one way we help to ensure councils are accountable to local people and highlighting the learning from complaints helps to improve services for everybody. Reports are published for 10 years.
Cornwall care cost calculations criticised
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is reminding councils that people can spend their money as they wish, within reason, when paying for their own care, after an investigation found faults with the way Cornwall Council assessed a man’s finances.
Cornwall Council stopped payments for disabled woman’s care without organising alternative
A Cornish woman was left without the support she needed after the council told her she could not pay her daughter to care for her, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said.
Cornwall Council will look into the cases of all children not attending school to ensure they are receiving a suitable alternative education, following an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Cornwall Council takes more than a decade to decide village green application
Cornwall Council has taken more than 11 years to determine a man’s village green application, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Cornish boy left without proper education for year because of lack of joined-up approach by council
A Cornish boy with special educational needs, who was excluded from his primary school because of behavioural problems, missed out on full-time education for 12 months, a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation has found.
Cornwall Council leaves homeless teenager in a tent
Cornwall Council made a host of significant failings when it accommodated a vulnerable 17 year-old boy in a tent and caravan over a summer, a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation has found.
Councils should avoid unnecessary delays when creating special educational needs support plans for children the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has warned, following an investigation into a complaint about Cornwall Council.
Complaint about Cornish equestrian development sparks investigation by Ombudsman
Cornwall Council has been asked to review its planning process following a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO).
Service improvements
The Council has agreed to make the following improvements to its services following an Ombudsman investigation.
Find out more about service improvements
When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.
The latest 10 cases are listed below – click ‘view all’ to find all service improvements.
Case reference: 24 012 183
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council has agreed to remind staff of the need to record all communications with familiesand confirm meeting arrangements.
- The Council has agreed to remind staff dealing with statutory children’s complaints of the criteria for early referral, and the need to consider whether redress for injustice or recommendations for service improvements are appropriate. It will be asking staff to attend our new workshops for complaints relating to children’s services.
Case reference: 24 011 434
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has told the Ombudsman about the actions it is taking to address delays within its SEND team. However, considering the significant concerns raised in this case including delays with EHC Plans, lack of alternative provision, and not considering a request for a specialist school, the Council should share this decision with its relevant scrutiny committee or panel.
Case reference: 24 009 366
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will provide written guidance to relevant staff members on when and how it should consider its section 19 duty to children who are not attending school. The guidance will include the importance of identifying those children through information provided on Education, Health and Care need assessment requests and communicating this to the relevant office or education welfare officers.
- The Council will review the capacity in its Education, Health and Care (EHC) team to identify the action it needs to take to ensure: EHC needs assessment and EHC Plan writing is conducted in line with the timescales set out in statutory guidance;it communicates with parents, children and young people at appropriate intervals during the process; andcomplaints are responded to without undue delay.The Council will create a specific, measurable and timebound action plan to complete any actions it has identified.
Case reference: 24 005 201
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed to share this decision with relevant staff to ensure that the Council keeps relevant contemporaneous notes about any decision it makes about its section 19 duty and remind relevant staff of the importance of issuing EHC Plans within the statutory timeframes, whether this is in time for phase transfer or following an annual review.
Case reference: 24 009 660
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- the Council will provide an update on how it is ensuring the outstanding stage two investigations are progressing.
Case reference: 24 008 706
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Refuse and recycling
- the Council has agreed to review its procedures for assessing a property’s eligibility for a wheelie bin or other type of waste collection container and make any changes needed to ensure there are clear and transparent criteria for decisions;
- the Council has agreed to review its procedures for assessing a property’s eligibility for a wheelie bin or other type of waste collection container and make any changes needed to ensure there is clear guidance in place for officers making decisions, including about how to check if the criteria have been met;
- the Council has agreed to review its procedures for assessing a property’s eligibility for a wheelie bin or other type of waste collection container and make any changes needed to ensure it keeps proper records to support consistency in decision making.
Case reference: 24 007 176
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it has a proper process in place for considering its duty to provide a child whose EHE has been ended with a suitable education.
- The Council has agreed to share guidance about its policy and procedure in these cases with relevant officers.
Case reference: 24 005 023
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Highway repair and maintenance
- Consider how often the gullies need cleaning.
Case reference: 24 003 458
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will share a copy of the decision with its education welfare and special educational needs staff to identify learning from this complaint.
Case reference: 24 001 518
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council agreed to send a written reminder to its Adult Social Care officers about the need to handle residents’ complaints in a timely manner by either responding directly or referring them its Feedback Team.
Last updated: 4 April 2015