UN agency says UK push to ‘modernise’ aid spending risks ignoring ‘immediate crises’
The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) has warned that Britain’s plan to “modernise” its aid program – which would see significant cuts – risks worsening humanitarian crises and destabilizing fragile regions.
In a submission to the International Development Committee inquiry into the future of UK aid, the UN body criticized the government’s attempt to reframe deep aid cuts as a strategic overhaul of development policy.
Ministers described this shift as moving “from donor to investor” and “from service delivery to systems support, from grants to expertise and from international intervention to local provision”.
But WFP warned of policy risks masking deep cuts in humanitarian funding at a time of growing global need. The agency told MPs that the UK has been investing in joint systems of government and development finance for “decades” and that the drive to modernize is essentially nothing new.
WFP said the government’s strategy risked overlooking the urgent crisis facing fragile states where traditional grant aid is vital.
“Meanwhile, we grapple with increasing unmet needs in fragile contexts where sustainable grant funding will continue to be urgently needed for the foreseeable future,” the presentation said.
WFP also warned that reduced funding could destabilize already fragile regions. “A sudden drop in funding at a time of rising needs is reversing hard-fought development gains and destabilizing countries and regions,” the report said.
Global humanitarian needs have more than doubled since 2019; Approximately 319 million people worldwide experience severe food shortages.
Callum Northcote, head of economic justice at Save the Children UK, told The Independent: “The development system needs to change, but cutting the grants that keep children alive is abandonment, not reform.”
He said humanitarian nutrition programs designed to prevent child deaths in hunger crises were now facing what he described as an “unprecedented funding gap.” He warned that in Somalia alone, nearly half a million young children could face severe acute malnutrition by the end of the year.
Funding for WFP was cut by almost a third from $610 million (£448 million) in 2024 to $435 million last year, as part of wider cuts to the UK’s aid budget after ministers announced plans to cut overseas development aid from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of national income by 2027 to fund higher defense spending.
Adrian Lovett, UK managing director of ONE Campaign, said: “The one thing we can all agree on is that no child should starve to death in the 21st century. The government’s desire to move from ‘donor to investor’ is being undermined by the depth of the prime minister’s 40% cut to UK aid. This cut is costing lives.”
He added that aid provided through “trusted partners like WFP” was saving lives at relatively low cost, but warned that these reductions risked creating “a vicious cycle of crushing hunger and disease, leading to further instability and conflict.”
ActionAid UK co-chief executive Hannah Bond said the cuts were already contributing to “rolling back hard-won rights for women and girls”. He said: “Suddenly cutting off vital funding flows is not the way to deliver the transformation we need.”
Aid policy experts also question the clarity of the government’s strategy. Gideon Rabinowitz, Bond’s director of policy and advocacy, said there was “an urgent need for clarity on the strategy that supports FCDO’s new vision for development”.
Flora Alexander, UK director general of the International Rescue Committee, said: “Innovation can and should help make the UK’s aid more agile and responsive as humanitarian crises escalate. But in the near term, governments should direct 60 per cent of aid budgets to fragile and conflict-affected states to ensure the most vulnerable people do not fall through the cracks.”
WFP’s presentation represents an unusually direct warning from one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies that the UK’s aid overhaul risks deepening rather than solving the global crisis it aims to address.
This article was produced as part of The Independent. Rethinking Global Aid project
