A support group for parents of children with special needs has been ditched by Ealing Council in favour of an organisation based in east London.

Protesters were prevented from sitting in on a cabinet meeting held in private this week, at which councillors agreed to withdraw £137,000 of funding from Intuition Parent Partnership because of concerns over its financial standing.

The cash to link children with learning difficulties and disabilities to schools, health and social services will instead be given to ContinYou, which has its offices in Tower Hamlets.

Services will switch over at the end of December, but Intuition - which was spun out of Ealing Council three years ago - will continue to operate outside the borough after signing a new contract with Hammersmith and Fulham Council this month.

Despite its links with Ealing, the charity was not among seven organisations invited to tender for the new contract and had three appeals to the council rejected.

Director Barbara Quarteys said: "We're surprised about how we've been treated by the council, given that it was at their request that we became an independent organisation.

"We weren't even notified of the fact that the contract had been put out to tender.

"We've had meetings with the council and at some point we should have been alerted if there was an issue. They've never said that they have a problem with us.

"Because of the way we were being treated we were aware that perhaps we needed to look out-side Ealing. We are concerned for a number of parents who come back for support at different stages of their child's career. The staff feel pretty let down, and given their feelings I think the idea that some staff will transfer is not necessarily going to be the case."

Farzana Kahn, of Shaftesbury Gardens, Acton, said Intuition had provided "exceptional" support after her four-year-old daughter was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and said the council's decision was "upsetting and disheartening".

Data protection rules mean staff will have to write to 800 parents who have used the service to ask if their details can be passed on to ContinYou.

The precise nature of the council's financial concerns are being kept under wraps.

Council leader Jason Stacey said: "We're not cutting the service, it's just a different provider coming in. All I can really say is that we had a fair procedure."