Projected cuts to the UK aid budget will pose challenges to restoring the UK’s role as a responsible development partner

Yesterday, Monday 29 July, the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) released its Annual Report & Accounts for 2023–24.

The report contains the FCDO’s reported figures for UK aid spending for 2023-24 but does not contain forward-looking budgets for the current financial year (2024-25) and projected budgets for 2025-26. Instead, on 18 July the FCDO published a memorandum explaining the changes in the FCDO’s budgets as part of HM Treasury’s 2024 to 2025 Main Estimate.

Comparing the 2023-24 spending report with the 2022-23 report, it reveals that:

Bilateral UK aid to the Middle East and North Africa decreased by 15% in the past year
Bilateral UK aid to Europe decreased by 16% in the past year
Bilateral UK aid to the Americas and Overseas Territories decreased by 7% in the past year
Bilateral UK aid to the Indo-Pacific decreased by 11% over the past year
Bilateral UK aid to Africa increased by 4% over the past year
Bilateral UK aid to Eastern Europe and Central Asia increased by 11% in the past year
Overall bilateral FCDO spending on regional programmes decreased by 3% in comparison to 2022-23
UK aid spending through British Investment Partnerships increased by 53% from 22-23 to 23-24
The total FCDO UK aid budget in 2023/24 was £9.08bn, an increase of over £2bn (31%) in comparison to the £6.9bn reported in last year’s Annual Report.

According to the annual report (Annex C) the overall FCDO budget will decrease and thus the UK aid budget will also likely decrease (from its current level of 0.58% back towards 0.5% of GNI).

In reaction to the annual report, Gideon Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Bond, the UK network for NGOs, said:

While we welcome the government’s efforts to scale up funding for regional programmes in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, we are very concerned that the overall UK aid budget will likely decline over the next year.

Avoiding cuts to the UK aid budget this year will be crucial for addressing global poverty and responding to urgent humanitarian crises. Any further cuts will pose significant challenges for a government that says it is committed to restoring the UK’s role as a responsible and effective development partner.

While asylum seekers and refugees need urgent support, the government should allocate additional funding to the UK aid budget and stop using it as the primary pot to pay for housing asylum seekers and refugees. This approach would enable the UK to genuinely support lower-income countries and address spending pressures without compromising its international commitments.

ENDS.

Notes for editors

The FCDO Annual Report & Accounts for 2023–24 is available to view online.

Read Bond’s in-depth analysis of the 2022-23 Annual Report & Accounts – we will publish this year’s version over the next week.
In 2023 the total UK aid budget was £15.37bn, amounting to 0.58% of gross national income (GNI). Bond is calling for the UK government to allocate the funding required to ensure that the UK aid budget is maintained at this current level at the very least in 2024-25, to avoid further UK aid cuts.
Bond is the UK network for organisations working in international development. Bond unites and supports a diverse network of over 350 civil society organisations from across the UK, and allies to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.
For further information or interviews please contact Jess Salter at [email protected] or call 07493200979.