Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
UK overseas aid spending is set to fall to the lowest level this century as long-feared cuts start to hit non-governmental organisations and charities hard from 2026.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government announced in February that it would reduce overseas aid spending from 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3 per cent by 2027 in order to fund a rise in defence spending to counter Russia.
But of £6.5bn in total planned cuts, only £500mn has been earmarked for 2025-26, before accelerating rapidly with £4.8bn to be cut in 2026-27, suggesting the real crunch will begin in the second half of 2026.
Sarah Champion, the chair of parliament’s international development select committee who has been calling for the government to reverse the cuts, said 2026 would reveal the full impact of the reduction.
“The awful reality of cutting 40 per cent from the aid budget, for the world’s poorest people and for the UK’s protection from global health and security threats, will be laid bare in the new year,” said Champion, a Labour MP.
The cuts will add to pressures within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which is going through a restructuring driven by permanent under secretary Olly Robbins.
The Foreign Office, which absorbed the Department for International Development in 2020, is expected to see staffing cuts of up to 25 per cent in the coming years, with the sections overseeing overseas aid expected to be hit hard.
By 2027-28 the percentage of GNI spent on the aid budget will be down to 0.3 per cent, the lowest level since 1999. The amount that makes it overseas is likely to be even lower due to funds being diverted to the Home Office to fund asylum seeker care.
Bond, the UK umbrella group for organisations working in international development, said there was already a “devastating impact” from the cuts, “with programmes from health centres in Somalia to education programmes in Syria being forced to close”.
“However, the worst consequences are yet to be realised as allocations of the 2026-27 UK aid budget are still to be finalised by the FCDO — with little clarity given about how these destructive decisions are being informed,” said Gideon Rabinowitz, Bond’s director of policy and advocacy.
“The UK government must urgently improve transparency on its decision-making behind the cuts, and clearly set out a strategy for how it will continue to honour its global commitment.”
Baroness Jenny Chapman, the UK’s development minister who took over the role after Anneliese Dodds stepped down when the cuts were announced, has made clear that overseas aid is not “charity” and has emphasised “value for money” for the UK taxpayer in recent months.
She has sought to reframe the UK’s position as one of “partnerships” to help countries, rather than focusing on traditional aid programmes, saying in December that the UK was moving from “donor to investor” in Africa.
But campaigners and NGOs are concerned that the UK risks losing influence overseas and that the aid budget will be too small to have a significant impact, with eventual repercussions for the UK.
The Department of Health and Social Care, which funds projects overseas to prepare for pandemics alongside combating deadly diseases, is losing almost two-thirds of its aid money over the two years to 2027-28, down from £331mn to £123mn.
A spokesperson for FCDO said the prime minister had made the decision as defence and security was “the first responsibility of any government”, adding it remained “resolutely committed to international development”.
“We will bring UK expertise and investment to where it is needed most, while sharpening our focus on humanitarian support, global health, and climate and nature,” the spokesperson said.
Data visualisation by Amy Borrett
