Rebuilding Britain’s reputation as a reliable development partner: the state of UK aid in 2024

In a series of briefs, Bond will set out some of the key trends in development finance, including some of the challenges that the new government has inherited, and why and how the government can set a new path for financing sustainable development.

The first brief of this series examines two decisions the previous government made which significantly affected both the quantity and quality of the UK aid budget and subsequently damaged the UK’s reputation as a reliable development partner:

1. The decision to reduce the ODA budget from 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.5%.
2. The policy decision to continually inflate the level of ODA spent on refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, which has been widely criticised by UK and international oversight bodies.

These decisions are combining to lead to renewed extreme pressures on ODA spending in 2024.