Bond warns of impact of FCDO staffing cuts on UK aid
Following news that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will reduce its workforce by 25%, Bond, the UK network for NGOs in international development, is warning of the impact of further narrowing development expertise and capacity within the FCDO on the delivery of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA).
This reduction represents 1,885 job losses so far, before the department has settled its priorities and budget allocations for 2026/2027. The migration and conflict directorate, which employs about 100 civil servants, is being abolished at the end of this year and its work subsumed by the rest of the department.
As part of an ongoing an inquiry by the International Development Committee (IDC) into the Future of UK Aid and Development Assistance, Bond’s Director of Policy and Advocacy, Gideon Rabinowitz, gave evidence to the IDC last week on the impact of budget and staffing cuts on the UK’s development work alongside other civil society experts. Following this evidence session, Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the IDC, wrote a letter to the Foreign Secretary warning of the impact that cuts could have on the department’s ability to deliver the UK’s ODA objectives.
Champion called for an “immediate pause of staff restructuring until ministers have had adequate time to articulate the Government’s ambitions for the future of UK aid and development assistance and civil servants have laid out the detail of the planned restructure”, alongside a strategy on UK aid and development and a workforce plan. Bond is also calling on the UK government to explain how UK aid and development priorities will be managed with a reduced workforce, and to increase transparency on its strategy for these cuts.
In reaction, Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond, the UK network of NGOs, said:
“We are concerned that the rate at which the FCDO is cutting its workforce risks leaving the UK ill-equipped to deal with increasing global challenges. While we know the government has provided some indication of its international development priorities including focusing on humanitarian, health and climate, we are yet to see a strategy for delivering them with such a depleted workforce.
Following the rushed DFID-FCO merger in 2020, the department has been in a constant state of flux that doesn’t seem to be letting up. Accelerating cuts now, before the department has settled its priorities and budget allocations, risks further narrowing development expertise and capacity within the FCDO.
The government needs to be more transparent on its strategy for these cuts and explain how UK aid and development priorities will be managed with a reduced workforce. With global instability mounting and the UK hosting a major international development conference in 2026, the G20 in 2027, and the G8 the following year, the FCDO needs to be getting stronger, not weaker.”
ENDS.
Notes for editors
1. Read Bond’s reaction to news in July that the FCDO workforce will be cut by 15-25%.
2. Read Bond’s reaction to the FCDO annual report for 2024–25 and the equality impact assessment for 25/26.
3. Bond unites and supports a diverse network of over 350 civil society organisations from across the UK, and allies to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.
4. For further information or interviews, please get in touch with Emily Loynes at [email protected] or 07909947850
