London councils are to move forward with a new funding model that has raised concerns among voluntary and community social care organisations.
Members of the Association of London Government, which distributes £28m a year to more than 400 groups, voted this week to proceed with plans to replace the organisation's competitive bidding system with a commissioning model.
The mental health charity Revolving Doors warned, in a report from the ALG on voluntary sector responses to the plans, that the change would "create gaps" in services.
Organisations including homelessness charity Thamesreach Bondway and the London Voluntary Service Council were also concerned commissioning would favour larger organisations over smaller groups.
Others argued that the approach would be "too prescriptive" and undermine flexibility and innovation, while the Pan London Providers Forum said commissioning would not address deficiencies in the current system.
Nearly all the groups called for further consultation on how commissioning would be implemented.
An ALG spokesperson said introducing commissioning would "cut out bureaucracy" and save on "unnecessary costs" of grant-making for voluntary sector groups.
He said the current open bidding system was "oversubscribed and commissioning would act as a "filter".
The ALG's 2004 grant review report Funding for the Future suggested that commissioning would lead to improved targeting of needs and fairer distribution of funding.
