UK aid: Reducing spending to 0.3% of GNI by 2027/28

In February 2025, the UK Government announced that UK aid spending will be “gradually reduced” from 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3% of GNI in 2027. The reduction is intended to fund an increase in defence and security spending, which will reach 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2027. Aid spending is not expected to return to 0.7% during this Parliament (to 2029).

The International Development Minister, Anneliese Dodds, resigned following the announcement, saying that the fall in aid spending will “likely lead to a UK [aid] pull out from numerous African, Caribbean and Western Balkan nations” and a reduced UK role internationally, including on climate policy and action.

The fall follows a period of extended pressure on the aid budget since 2020, with spending falling from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5% of GNI in 2021. Other major donors, like the US, Germany and France, are also reducing aid spending.

This research briefing sets out the government’s decision, its plans on managing the reduction, and responses in the UK Parliament and aid sector.

What has been announced?

The government will reduce UK aid spending to 0.3% of GNI by 2027 (PDF). Aid spending will fall to 0.48% in 2025/26, 0.37% in 2026/27 and 0.30% in 2027/28. Aid at 0.3% of GNI in 2027 will total an estimated £9.2 billion, the lowest in cash terms since 2012. When measured as a proportion of GNI, spending will be at the lowest level since 1999.

The government expects aid reductions to provide £500 million for defence in 2025/26, £4.8 billion in 2026/27, and £6.5 billion in 2027/28. Aid spending would have reached £15.4 billion if aid had remained at 0.5% of GNI.

In 2026, the government announced a “modernised approach” to international development. This builds on the policies of previous governments, including a 2023 white paper. Among the changes are being an “investor” rather than aid “donor”, working in partnership with lower-income states, and sharing UK expertise to strengthen existing country systems.

The government recognises that reducing aid funding risks its poverty reduction and equality objectives; to mitigate this, it will focus aid in priority areas. From 2026/27, UK aid’s priority regions are “fragile and conflict affected areas”. Priority themes are humanitarian aid, global health, climate and nature, economic development, and women and girls. Bilateral aid (that for specific countries) will form a smaller proportion of the budget as more UK aid is directed through multilateral institutions such as development banks.

What are the plans for UK aid spending?

In March 2026, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) published cross-government spending plans to 2028/29. The plans said the value of total FCDO programmes will fall by 31% compared with 2025/26. Multilateral contributions would fall less, by 22%.

Contributions to multilateral programmes

The government said it was prioritising multilateral spending to maximise UK impact and supported large-scale work. Its contributions to World Bank and Education Cannot Wait funds remain at the same level; however, UK funding for Gavi, the vaccine alliance, and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria will fall. UK funding for the Polio Eradication Initiative will end, with the government saying it will work through the World Health Organization and Gavi instead.

The Labour government had committed to meeting the 2019 pledge to spend £11.6 billion in climate finance from 2021/22 to 2025/26, but over the next three years the UK plans for around £6 billion per year. The government says it will seek to encourage a further £6.7 billion from private funds.

Bilateral aid

The greatest planned cuts are for bilateral programmes, with aid to Africa falling from £818 million to £688 million over the three years (the government says multilateral aid will partly compensate for this). To mitigate the effects, the government will increase the proportion of aid prioritising women and girls to 90% of bilateral programmes (up from 52% in 2023) and to increase the share of UK aid to fragile and conflict affected states to 70% of bilateral aid.

Spending plans for specific countries are expected soon. Commitments will remain at 2025/26 levels for Ukraine, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan and the Overseas Territories.

The announcements have been informed by an equalities impact assessment. This led to some changes, including protecting spending on the Preventing Sexual Conflict in Violence Initiative and other central programmes. However, it noted the full impact of the cuts will be uncertain until country-level plans are made.

What alternatives will be pursued?

The government says it will work to raise more private finance, such as through the City of London, to support development, and to maximise the impact of UK aid through working with multilateral development banks. It will co-host an international conference on the future of aid in May 2026.

The International Development Committee Chair, Sarah Champion, has suggested that the government could increase its support for debt relief for low-income countries to free up their own budgets, consider allowing British International Investment (BII) to borrow to invest (BII already re-invests its profits from its investments), and increase its use of UK Aid Match.

The Center for Global Development has called for more funding for a smaller number of multilaterals, limiting grants to low-income states and reducing aid to the Overseas Territories.

Update log

29 October 2025: Added amendments to equalities impact assessment, multilateral spending plans, IDC report and statements

24 February 2026: Added information on further spending plans, BBC World Service, British Council, the ICAI, International Development Committee report.

20 April 2026: Added information on high-level bilateral and multilateral programmes for the next three years. Individual country plans are expected to be published by the government before July.