UK Aid: UK Government is robbing Peter to pay Paul, Christian Aid warns

Responding to government figures that confirm the UK is spending more than three times the amount of aid money used to alleviate poverty in Africa on asylum seekers and refugees in the UK, Chief of UK Advocacy at Christian Aid Sophie Powell said: "Today's figures provide a further stark reminder that this is a government robbing Peter to pay Paul. As clear as day, the UK's already depleted aid pot continues to be raided by other government departments.

"We must reject the false choice between responding at home and fulfilling the UK's responsibilities to the world's most in need.

"We need a government that will release new resources, not just by restoring the aid budget but also by getting private creditors such as the big banks to cancel the debt of countries on the frontline of these crises."

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) provisional statistics report on how UK aid was spent in 2022 can be found here: www.gov.uk/guidance/statistics-on-international-development

This annual publication provides an overview of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend in calendar year 2022 and has revealed that the UK is spending more UK aid in the UK on refugee costs than in both Africa and Asia.

9 % of UK ODA in 2022 was spent on in-donor refugee costs (£3.7bn). This is an increase of 250% (£2.6bn) between 2021 and 2022 and 487% (£3.1bn) from 2020 to 2022.

- The UK spent £3.7 billion of the ODA budget on in-donor refugee costs in 2022 compared to £2,047 million spent by the FCDO bilaterally in both Africa and Asia.
- FCDO spend to Africa decreased by £256 million and to Asia by £134 million, as part of FCDO's overall budget reduction. Spend to
Europe increased by £249 million (an increase of 405%) due to our increased spend in Ukraine.
- The Home Office spent £2,397million of ODA in 2022, an increase of £1,356 million (130.2%).
- The FCDO accounted for 59.8% of UK ODA in 2022, compared to 71.6% in 2021. This is the smallest share of UK ODA reported for FCDO and the first time it's fallen below 70%.
- The total ODA spend for 2022 was £12.8bn, equating to 0.5% GNI. Had the UK met their commitment to 0.7% GNI, the total ODA would have been approximately £17.5 billion. This equates to a cut of £4.7 billion.