A holiday home owner launched a formal complaint against Cornwall Council after being denied a covid-19 support grant.

But the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has dismissed the complaint saying there was no evidence that the council was at fault.

The holiday homeowner, identified as Ms X, had gone to the ombudsman to complain that Cornwall Council had not given her a Covid-19 business grant. No details are given for the location of the property.

Ms X claimed that the lack of a grant worsened her business' financial problems from being unable to operate for several months due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

Cornwall Council has been responsible for the administration and distribution of Covid-19 business grants which have been funded by the Government.

Ms X had bought a house to use as a holiday let business in 2018 and it was registered for council tax, not business rates.

The council says that Ms X did not state that she intended to use the house as a holiday let or ask to be registered for business rates until March 25, 2020.

Under Government guidelines for the Covid-19 business grants a business' right to grants depends on its rateable value on March 11th, 2020. The guidance also states that later changes to the rating list do not entitle a business to a grant.

The council said that on March 11th, 2020 the house was not on the rating list and it did not have reason to believe the list was wrong so it refused Ms X a small business grant or a retail, hospitality and leisure grant.

Ms X argued that, as the VOA later added the house to the rating list and backdated the change to December 2018, the rating list was inaccurate.

The Ombudsman states:

"On 11th March 2020, Ms X's business was not on the rating list. Neither did the council have any reason on that date to believe the list was wrong in respect of that address, since Ms X had not yet told the council she was using the property as a holiday let business."

As the later change did not make the business eligible for a grant the ombudsman stated:

"So I do not consider the council was at fault for not giving Ms X a small business grant or a retail, hospitality and leisure grant."

The ombudsman ruled that it would not investigate the complaint adding:

"The evidence suggests the council was not at fault."

In publishing the decision on the LGSCO website it stated that, when given a draft of the response, Ms X "suggested the government's guidance did not contain the points I have mentioned above. That is incorrect. The government's guidance for local authorities about the small business grant fund and the retail, hospitality and leisure grant fund contained the points I mentioned. The council had to follow that guidance."

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