Total UK ODA Official Development Assistance) fell by over £1 billion to just 0.43% of GNI in 2025: a 7.4% decrease on the previous year, new figures show.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has published provisional statistics showing that over 18% of the budget continued to be spent in the UK to cover asylum and refugee costs in 2025 – down only marginally from 2024 despite a drastically reduced UK aid budget and increasing global humanitarian need.

The statistics also revealed that in-donor refugee costs fell from £2.8bn (20.1% of total ODA) in 2024 to £2.4bn (18.3%) in 2025 – a decrease of 15%.

The provisional statistics follow recent allocations of the UK ODA budget for 2026/2027, laid out by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper MP in March, and which represent the steepest decline in the UK aid budget since Starmer’s cuts were announced.

The allocations reveal that regional bilateral UK aid to Africa will decline by 56% from 2024/25 to 2028/29, as a result of Starmer’s decision to cut the UK aid budget.T

The government’s own Equality Impact assessment confirms that expected cuts will leave children, people with disabilities and older people across Ethiopia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia more vulnerable.

Gideon Rabinowitz, director of policy and advocacy at Bond, the UK network for NGOs working in international development, said:   “Today’s statistics lay bare the severe damage already caused by Labour's cuts to the UK aid budget – soon to be the steepest of any G7 country in the coming year. Funding to support communities facing conflict and crisis worldwide fell by over £1 billion in 2025, as 18% of the budget continued to be diverted to cover asylum costs in the UK.

"Lifesaving humanitarian programmes, including education provision in Syria and healthcare programmes across Africa, have already been forced to close, and, with even deeper cuts still to be implemented this year and next, the worst consequences are yet to be realised. What is clear is that marginalised communities, particularly across Africa, will continue to pay the highest price for these political choices.

"Amid a drastically reduced UK aid budget, we are also concerned that £2.4 billion – over 18% – of the UK aid budget was still diverted to cover asylum accommodation costs in the UK in 2025. It is vital that refugees and asylum seekers in the UK receive adequate support, but this money must come from the Home Office’s own budget, rather than from funds intended to be spent on people in humanitarian need in the world’s lowest income countries.

"These cuts are costing lives and leaving us all more vulnerable to a world with more disease, conflict and crises. Instead of leading the retreat from our international commitments, now is the time for the UK to step up and urgently rebuild its shattered reputation on the global stage.

"We call on the UK government to ensure UK aid is focused on tackling global challenges, and in countries where it is needed the most. Ahead of its G20 leadership, and upcoming Global Partnerships Conference, the UK must also commit to much-needed reform to global economic systems to address conditions that prevent low-income countries from investing in their own public services.”

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