Strategic commissioning is damaging to the voluntary sector, having the effect of obstructing opportunism, lateral thinking, alternative approaches, and the ability to work holistically to meet community needs, according to research from the National Coalition for Independent Action (NCIA).

NCIA quizzed 16 charities in West Sussex on their relationship with local authorities and statutory agencies in the area, after they started to introduce competitive tendering and performance management processes into their commissioning of services.

Overall, the charities found that the emphasis within the statutory sector on strategic objectives, often designed to meet central government targets, created straitjackets.

Further, they found the emphasis was shifting to control, with the statutory body determining the need for a service or activity and the amount of money to be spent on it. Another emerging theme was a burgeoning culture of ‘big is best.’

Amongst organisations which had been through the commissioning process, the experience was overwhelmingly negative. In particular, the prescription involved in service specification and the time taken away from service delivery by the commissioning process and maintaining monitoring systems were all causing concern.