Commissioning should be about improving outcomes for people and communities.

At its best, it brings together evidence, local knowledge, lived experience and delivery expertise to shape services that make a real difference.

Too often, however, commissioning feels dangerously disconnected from the very services and communities it is meant to support.

This is not an isolated concern. Across the voluntary and community sector, many senior leaders share the same frustrations: rushed processes, poor understanding of local need, unreliable portals, limited responsiveness and decisions that appear detached from the realities of frontline delivery.

A colleague recently said something that has stayed with me: “The biggest threat to our services is commissioners who don’t understand what we do.”

For many in the VCS, that will ring painfully true.

Community-based services are complex, relational and often preventative. Their value does not always sit neatly within simple contract lines or easily measured outputs. Much of their impact comes from trust, local presence, flexibility and long-standing relationships with people who may never engage with statutory services. When commissioners do not understand this, they risk stripping away the very qualities that make these services effective.

This is particularly true in the sexual violence sector.

Rape crisis centres and specialist support services are chronically underfunded, oversubscribed and often working with people whose needs are complex and long-term.

In the last 18 months, three rape crisis centres have closed, leaving survivors without vital support. Sexual violence remains one of the last taboos, and funding for this work has always been hard fought.

Many specialist services began as grassroots organisations: women supporting other women, building trust in communities and responding to needs that statutory systems had failed to meet.

Over time, funding has shifted from grants and donations towards competitive commissioning, centralised funding and tenders. That shift has not always protected the values, knowledge and relationships that made these services work in the first place.

Too often, commissioning decisions seem driven by cost, systems, targets or short-term ideas rather than evidence, outcomes and community need. New models may sound innovative on paper, but without proper understanding of existing provision, they risk destabilising trusted services and duplicating or replacing work that already exists.

There is also a worrying lack of respect for local provision.

Local organisations can be overlooked in favour of larger national providers who may be able to submit polished bids, absorb risk or promise delivery at a lower cost.

But cheaper does not always mean better. Contracts awarded primarily on cost can hollow out services, weaken local relationships and make support more remote from the communities it is meant to serve.

Cost matters, of course. Public and charitable funds must be used responsibly. But commissioners should also ask: who has the trust of the community? Who understands local need? Who is already embedded? Who will still be here when the contract ends? And what will be lost if local provision is pushed aside?

Real innovation does not disregard what already works. It listens before it redesigns. It builds on existing strengths. It involves the people who deliver and use services. It does not ask charities to gather survivor or service user feedback and then ignore it in pursuit of a pre-determined agenda.

Community trust cannot simply be recommissioned into existence.

Accountability is another major concern. Voluntary sector organisations are rightly expected to evidence impact, manage funding responsibly and deliver against agreed outcomes.

But where is the accountability when commissioning decisions are poor? Where is the scrutiny when services are disrupted, local expertise is ignored, or new models fail to deliver?

Commissioning has consequences. It shapes the future of local support, determines which organisations survive and decides which communities are heard. Poor commissioning can have long and lasting effects, yet those making the decisions often face little consequence.

If commissioning is to work, it must be rooted in partnership rather than power. Decisions should be based on evidence, local knowledge and genuine collaboration. Good commissioning should not be something done to communities or providers. It should be something developed with them.

Until that changes, voluntary sector organisations will continue to face unnecessary instability, and communities and survivors will continue to pay the price.

Jocelyn Anderson is CEO of West Mercia Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Centre

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