Cornwall Council 'unacceptable' over tent complaint

A council has been criticised for being "un-cooperative" in how it dealt with a complaint about a decision to give a homeless teenager a tent to sleep in.

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) said Cornwall Council tried to withhold files and to get its investigator to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Earlier this year the LGO ordered the council to pay compensation to the boy and his mother.

Cornwall Council said it could have done "more" at "several points".

The boy was given a tent in 2016 when he approached the council for help.

The LGO has written to the council chief executive Kate Kenally, saying it was "pleased that the council eventually agreed to pay him a total of £2,500, plus £1,500 to his mother, who brought the complaint on his behalf".

LGO Chairman Michael King also wrote in the letter: "I was concerned that the council's approach to the investigation was generally un-cooperative.

"It had previously required our intervention for the council to consider the complaint by the complainant's mother."

He added that the council had been reluctant to accept fault for the decision and it was "unacceptable that the council later attempted to get my investigator to sign a confidentiality agreement before being permitted to inspect files at your offices".

The council said it accepts the findings and has apologised to the boy and his mother.

The council said after being asked to leave supported lodgings and refusing foster care: "The worker supporting him felt it was better for him to stay on a campsite rather than for him to become street homeless, with all the risks that entails."

Throughout this time the boy "wanted to return home to the care of one of his parents" but this "did not prove possible".