Policy Updates

On February 28, 2025, the UK government set out to reduce ODA from 0.5% to 0.3% of the GNI by 2027, or approximately GBP6 billion (US$7.8 billion), with the intention to bolster their defense spending.

This cut comes just 5 months after UK Primer Minister Keir Starmer promised at the UN that it would be a leading development contributor. This is further complicated by the fact that of this budget allocation, around 40% has historically been used to cover housing and administrative costs for refugees, meaning the true international ODA spending is far smaller.

On February 1, 2025, the UK government has announced GBP22 million (US$26 million) in additional humanitarian assistance for Myanmar in 2024-2025 to support nearly one million vulnerable people.

This funding will provide essential healthcare, nutrition assistance, and treatment for diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. The support will also strengthen climate resilience by improving food security, water management, and disaster preparedness, helping communities withstand extreme weather events.

On January 28, 2025, UK Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds announced a GBP17 million (US$22 million) assistance package to support Gaza after the ceasefire, while reiterating more assistance will be needed.

This assistance package is aimed at ensuring healthcare, food, and shelter reach civilians, while supporting other vital infrastructure within the country. The additional funding would bring UK’s overall spending over the past financial year to around GBP129 million (US$167 million) within the Occupied Palestinian Region.

On January 24, 2025, the UK government’s discussions within the House of Commons on the Climate and Nature Bill were suspended.

This bill would make it legally binding for the UK to meet its international climate agreements. It was originally introduced by Liberal Democrat Roz Savage and was prevented over concerns from the Labour party that it was too ambitious and was unlikely to be upheld.

On January 6, 2025, the Royal College of Nursing conduted research stating that the UK cut health ODA to some of the world’s vulnerable countries at the same time as recruiting thousands of their nurses.

The Royal College of Nursing said Labour has a duty to fix the ODA cuts imposed by the previous government, and to work on increasing the UK’s domestic supply of nurses.

Between 2020 and 2023, direct UK ODA for health-related projects in “red list” countries – those with the most severe workforce shortages – fell by nearly 63%, from GBP484 million (US$684 million) to GBP181 million (US$234 million).

Spending on projects designed to strengthen the healthcare workforce in those countries fell by 83%, from GBP24 million (US$34 million) to GBP4 million (US$5 million).

At the same time, the number of nurses from these countries on the UK’s national register rose sharply. There were 11,386 registered in September 2020, and 32,543 in September 2024.

On January 3, 2025, the IDC announced that the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves did not answer their question on how the Government decided to set ODA spending at 0.5%.

Reeves reiterated that the UK government is still committed to spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA, but that the ‘fiscal tests’ for this have not been met. She added that the Government has no plans to update these tests, as they have the endorsement of Parliament. The Chair of the IDC Sarah Champion also did not receive a direct answer to this question when she raised it in a written question in Parliament to the Treasury.

Champion expressed her appreciation for the Chancellor's response but noted that it left many questions unanswered. She questioned the reasoning behind choosing a 0.5% GNI target if 0.7% is considered unattainable, asking whether the figure is arbitrary or central to the Government's ODA strategy. Champion also expressed her anticipation for more detailed clarification from government ministers in the new year.

On December 30, 2024, the Minister for Development announced GBP61 million (US$79 million) for humanitarian assistance in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia as part of the UK government’s Plan for Change by tackling migration flows upstream and addressing the climate emergency and global poverty.

The UK is directing GBP22 million (US$28 million) towards responding to escalating crises in the Middle East and GBP34 million (US$43 million) will go towards alleviating high levels of humanitarian need in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, the DRC, Somalia, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Additionally, up to GBP5 million (US$6 million) will be used to respond to the devastation wreaked by Tropical Cyclone Chido. It is estimated that 1.5 million people have been affected by the recent storms, with crops, infrastructure, health facilities.

The UK will provide GBP5 million (US$6 million) to reach around 350,000 of those affected in Mozambique, focusing on meeting immediate emergency shelter, clean water, and sanitation needs.

On December 17, 2024, the global campaign for assistance and development transparency, Publish What You Fund, released the report Commitments Without Accountability, which compares leading donors' commitments to locally led development, enabling effictive tracking and reporting on implementation.

The study focused on the extent to which donors had increased direct funding to local organizations. Of the five donors, including the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, USAID, GAC, the Netherlands' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the UK’s FCDO, only USAID had the strategies, policies, comprehensive targets, and measurable public data to track its direct funding target.

The analysis created a Local Funding Matrix which looked at definitions, measurement, strategy, and policy to compare these 5 OECD DAC donors. Only USAID fulfilled all of the criteria; Australia has progressed in developing strategies, policies, and establishing a definition of local.

This work builds on Publish What You Fund's Metrics Matter series which tracked USAID 's progress towards its own 25% target by 2025, of which USAID is currently off track to meet. A third Metrics Matter report will be released in the spring of 2025, which will include all 5 donors.

On December 15, 2024, the UK announced a GBP50 million (US$64 million) package of international assistance to help the most vulnerable Syrians, including refugees across the region.

Following the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that new emergency assistance will be delivered through the UN and NGO agencies to help the most vulnerable Syrians, in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.

The UK joined talks in Aqaba yesterday, hosted by Jordan and attended by ministers and representatives of the Arab Contact Group, Bahrain, Qatar, Turkey, the UAE, the EU, the UK, France, Germany, and the US, where participants expressed commitment the best interests of the Syrian people, the region, and the world.

On December 12, 2024, the Economist published an article asserting that the UK's ODA budget is less generous than it intially appears.

The article specifically criticized cutting the 0.7% target, and that in the past few years, barely over half of the target has actually been spent on ODA.

The cuts began under the UK’s last Conservative government, but look set to continue and deepen under the Labour government.