ALL three parties within the council have pledged to make funding more readily available to charities and voluntary groups in Waltham Forest.

Following tough questioning from charity workers and members of voluntary organisations at Waltham Forest Voluntary Action's AGM today, councillors pledged to cut bureaucracy and try to distribute funds more evenly.

Representatives of charities from around the borough attended the meeting at the YMCA in Forest Road, Walthamstow, today to grill leading councillors on the way the voluntary sector is treated.

Fears were raised that small groups would not be able to access funding because of the council's complex commissioning process, which could leave services users without vital help.

A representative of the African and Caribbean Disablement Association said: “We get application forms at the 11th hour.

“We don't have time to fill them in and get all the documents we need to do it on time and in a satisfactory manner.

“My charity was formed specifically to care for one very disadvantaged group and we are being told we cannot have the money to do that.”

A representative of the Waltham Forest Dyslexic Association added that groups have to attend up to six meetings and fill in forms up to 14 pages long before they are given funding.

The meeting was attended by Cllrs John Macklin, Matt Davis and Jenny Gray, representing all three parties, and they all agreed charities face too much bureaucracy before they can access funding.

Jenny Gray, junior lead for communities and housing, defended the commissioning process, saying: “Commissioning has meant local groups have to be a lot more professional in their approach.

“In the last three months alone, local groups have brought £300,000 into the borough.”

But she added that the council would examine the way funding is allocated and the process charities have to go through.

Cllr Macklin, leader of the Liberal Democrat group and deputy council leader, said: “We need to stop making people jump through hoops.

“We need to make it easier for people to respond and to change time scales.”

Conservative group leader Cllr Davis pledged that the party would return to greater use of grant funding over commissioning if elected next year and said only one form would have to be filled in.

Charity workers also called on the council to help fund full time staff in a bid to help ease the unemployment crisis.

They also called for more funding to be made available through community councils.