UK aid cuts will affect children's education and increase the risk of death.

UK Aid Cut to 0.3% of GNI Poised to Undermine Education and Increase Mortality Across Africa, FCDO Warns

Labour’s decision to slash the UK’s overseas aid commitment from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income poses serious threats to children’s schooling and could drive up disease and death rates in vulnerable nations, according to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO) own equality impact assessment.

Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that the UK would redirect resources into bolstering national defense by trimming the aid budget to 0.3%. On Tuesday, as Parliament adjourned for its summer break, the FCDO released its evaluation of the policy’s equity implications. Focusing on the 2025–26 fiscal year—when initial reductions have already been enacted—the document paints a bleak picture of the cuts’ real-world consequences.

The assessment reveals that the government has sought to shield marginalized groups by channeling more funding through multilateral bodies, notably the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and the Gavi vaccine alliance, alongside maintaining humanitarian relief streams. While these allocations were designed to limit disproportionate harm, the report flags steep declines in bilateral project budgets across critical education and healthcare sectors. In countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia, spending on women’s health, systemic healthcare strengthening, and emergency medical response is set to fall substantially.

Illustrating this trend, the report warns that budget cuts to the UN’s program to end preventable child deaths will force “reduction and reprioritization” of aid in eleven nations. It concludes that “any reduction in health spending risks increasing the burden of disease and, ultimately, deaths,” with the poorest populations—particularly women, children, and individuals with disabilities—bearing the brunt.

On the education front, the FCDO predicts “annual reductions in education spending” in Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. A girls’ schooling initiative in the DRC is slated to shut down prematurely in the 2025–26 academic year. The early closure is expected to disrupt schooling for roughly 170,000 children in rural, post-conflict regions of Kasai, many of whom are among the most vulnerable and include a significant number with disabilities. Overall, 11 of the 13 programs identified for termination have an explicit equality focus.

These UK aid cutbacks arrive as the Trump administration’s radical reductions in US foreign assistance continue to halt lifesaving initiatives—most notably HIV treatment programs—across sub-Saharan Africa.

The FCDO’s impact study accompanied its annual report detailing how the smaller aid budget will be allocated. Lisa Wise, Global Policy Director at Save the Children UK, warned: “The government has confirmed our worst fears: significant reductions in aid spending will lead to deaths among the world’s most vulnerable, including children.” While lauding the government’s commitment to its World Bank pledge, she urged that “international spending must prioritize the needs of those facing inequality and crisis, rather than balancing the books.”

Gideon Rabinowitz, Policy and Advocacy Director at Bond, the umbrella group for UK development NGOs, echoed concerns that conflict-affected and marginalized communities—especially women and girls—will suffer most. He urged the government to conduct further impact assessments, noting that this year’s review only scratches the surface of long-term effects.

Development Minister Jenny Chapman defended the policy as a modernization of UK aid: “Every pound must go further for British taxpayers and for the people we support worldwide. We’re shifting towards partnerships and investments rather than traditional donor handouts.” Chapman has described the 0.3% aid ceiling as the “new normal.”

Previously, a 0.7% GNI target—set under Labour and backed across parties—was trimmed to 0.5% by Rishi Sunak amid the Covid-19 pandemic, marking a further step down in the UK’s global aid ambition.