In February 2025 the UK government said it would bring aid down to 0.3% of gross national income in 2027, to pay for more defence spending. On that measure, aid will sit at its lowest level since 1999, according to the House of Commons Library. Britain’s foreign aid budget is the money the government spends on official development assistance, and it is shrinking fast.

What counts as aid

Official development assistance follows rules set by the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD. The money has to go to developing countries or multilateral bodies, with their economic welfare as its main aim, and it has to come as grants or soft loans. The OECD sets which countries qualify and reviews the list every three years.

The UK first hit the long-standing target of 0.7% of national income in 2013. It dropped to 0.5% in 2021.

How far the money falls

The Guardian reported provisional figures showing aid at 0.43% of national income in 2025, down from 0.5% the year before. The total came to just over £13bn, a fall of about £1bn, or 7.4%. For comparison, the UK spent £15.4bn in 2023, the highest in a government series going back to 1970.

The Commons Library puts the path from here at 0.48% in 2025/26, then 0.37%, then 0.30% in 2027/28. At that point aid would total an estimated £9.2bn, the lowest in cash terms since 2012. Had it stayed at 0.5%, the figure would have been around £15.4bn.

The government expects the cut to free £6.5bn for defence by 2027/28.

Who loses most

Bilateral programmes, run directly with individual countries, take the deepest cuts. The Library reports that bilateral aid to Africa falls from £1.5bn in 2025/26 to £676m in 2028/29. UK aid for the Polio Eradication Initiative ends, and funding for Gavi and the Global Fund falls. Commitments to Ukraine, Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the Overseas Territories hold at 2025/26 levels.

A slice of the budget never leaves Britain. In 2025, £2.4bn went on supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, 18% of the total.

What each side says

The foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said the UK will act as an “investor” rather than a “donor”, offering expertise as well as money. The Foreign Office says the government still aims to return to 0.7% when fiscal conditions allow. The Commons Library notes that no such return is expected during this Parliament, which runs to 2029.

Gideon Rabinowitz of Bond, a network of UK development groups, told the Guardian that the cuts are costing lives. He wants refugee support in the UK funded from the Home Office’s own budget rather than from aid.

The Commons Library says other major donors, including the US, Japan, Germany, and France, are cutting aid too. Britain is not alone, but its cuts are expected to be the steepest in the G7 in the coming year, Bond told the Guardian.