FCDO ranking in 2026 Aid Transparency Index drops

As FCDO transparency declines, Bond calls on the department to set out a comprehensive international development strategy.

Today, Wednesday 4 November, a new report by Publish What You Fund reveals a decline in transparency from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The FCDO previously scored ‘Very Good’ in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index, but has dropped to ‘Good’ in today’s 2026 Aid Transparency Index – having lost points “for its lack of comprehensive forward-looking country and organisational budgets and strategies, and project objectives.” Bond has repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of strategic direction within the FCDO since the change of government in 2024, with no formal, comprehensive strategy published since 2023.

As part of its ‘National Action Plan for Open Government 2024-2025’ the UK set itself the goal for the FCDO to achieve ‘Very Good’ in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index. Though it did so in 2024 with a score of 82.9, it has now failed to match this standard in 2026 with a score of 69.0.

The biennial index highlights that three of the largest Official Development Assistance (ODA) donors in the world – Germany, the US and UK – have all become less transparent in the last two years, while also having drastically reduced their ODA budgets. In 2025, global ODA budgets fell by 23.1%, with the five largest donors accounting for over 95% of this decline.

Gideon Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Bond, said:

“Today’s Aid Transparency Index confirms a worrying decline in the FCDO’s transparency, and reinforces our concerns about the lack of a strategic agenda underpinning the UK’s approach to international development. Over the last two years, the government has implemented sweeping cuts to UK aid and changed its approach to international development, without a clear and comprehensive underlying strategy – while simultaneously conducting a major internal restructure that is still ongoing.

Transparency is vital to ensuring UK taxpayers’ money is well-spent, and that UK aid reaches the countries and communities who need it most. The government must now reverse this decline, raise transparency standards across all departments that spend UK aid, and set out a clear strategy for its international development agenda, including comprehensive country and organisational strategies.”

Notes to editor:

The 2026 Aid Transparency Index is available here from 8am on November 4th. The Index website provides detailed profiles of all accredited agencies.
The biannual Aid Transparency Index is the only independent measure of global aid transparency and ranks over 30 of the major aid and development donor agencies based on their scores. Publish What You Fund is the global campaign for aid and development transparency launched in 2008.
The 2026 Aid Transparency Index introduced a paid accreditation model to support the long-term sustainability of the Index. The FCDO has chosen not to be accredited. However, according to the Aid Transparency Index the distinction between accredited and non-accredited groups only “concerns the support available before final scoring, not the assessment used to determine the final results.”
Bond is concerned that this drop in transparency is part of a wider pattern, and has previously highlighted difficulties it faces in trying to access essential information on the UK’s ODA spending across departments.
Bond is the UK network for organisations working in international development. Bond unites and supports a diverse network of over 330 civil society organisations from across the UK, and allies to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice. 
For more information or for interviews, please contact Emily Loynes at [email protected] or 07909947850.