THE way the Waltham Forest Council commissions some services discriminates against vulnerable people, according to a leading charity.

Waltham Forest Mencap (WFMencap) say services for people with learning difficulties are being undermined because of funding cuts and a change to the way services are tendered.

The charity says it stands to lose £214,000 from its budget as a result.

In a statement WFMencap said the council promised a one-off cut to its income of between £10,000 and £15,000. However, following last week's Cabinet meeting, it discovered it would actually lose £94,000 over the next three years.

The charity also bid for the post of family support worker, which secures £250,000 in additional benefits for people with learning difficulties.

The post would have brought in £40,000 a year for the charity.

The bid, however, was unsuccessful because, the charity claim, the Local Area Agreement (LAA) criteria for success "effectively excluded the learning disability community".

"While we appreciate that the LAA approach has been a driver, we believe this approach discriminates against the many families who are not fortunate enough to fit prescribed criteria and who, as a minority, cannot democratically influence these decisions," the statement added.

Additionally, WFMencap claim the Cabinet were not aware of the charity's massive loss of funding when the proposed budget was approved.

Diana Harrison, WFMencap chief executive, said: "Instead of being rewarded by the council for the excellence of its services and its successes in pulling in much needed money to the borough, WFMencap is being penalised in its funding, rather than supported in its provision of services to the learning disability community.

"Cabinet was told the cuts would be spread across learning disability providers. WF Mencap has been singled out and is the only voluntary sector group providing services to the learning disability community to have its funding cut.

"WFMencap will cope, but the effort which now must be devoted to securing funding could have been much better spent on continuing to improve its services and picking up on all the other issues which will confront carers following the latest round of cuts from statutory bodies in Waltham Forest."

A council spokeswoman said: "The Waltham Forest Voluntary and Community Sector Funding and Commissioning Programme strengthens the council's partnership with the voluntary and community sector (VCS) by supporting organisations to effectively deliver public services.

"The council has committed £1.9 million per annum for three years towards the VCS commissioning programme. Of this £180,000 each year is ring fenced for Adult Social Care.

"We are commissioning services for three years from April to encourage the VCS to undertake long-term financial planning and investment.

"The services for commissioning have been set to deliver outcomes to meet needs identified as priorities in the Local Area Agreement.

"As well as adult and social care, services include sports activities, community safety, advice and financial inclusion, services for street homeless, services for children and young people, and services aimed at enhancing social inclusion and the development of the voluntary sector as a whole."