Government halts “non-essential” UK aid payments – reaction from Bond, the UK network of NGOs

Crucial UK aid programmes have been suspended as the Treasury has blocked “non-essential” new payments for the summer due to fears that the cost of relief work in Ukraine will exceed the reduced UK aid budget, which was cut from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income last year.

It’s reported today that Treasury chief secretary Simon Clarke has told the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and other departments to suspend UK aid payments until the new prime minister has been selected, so the reduced 0.5 budget is not exceeded. This means current and planned development projects will now be disrupted, affecting millions of marginalised people around the world.

Simon Starling, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research at Bond, said:

“It’s alarming that this is the third successive reduction to programmes funded by UK aid since 2020, particularly as global needs are rising. If the government sticks to the diminished 0.5% ODA budget while new crises like the Ukraine war emerge, more and more people will be denied the critical humanitarian and development support the UK promised to provide.”