LONDON, November 9, 2026 — The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has slipped from the top tier of global aid transparency rankings, losing 13.9 points and dropping to tenth place among 33 international agencies. The decline marks a reversal from the “Very Good” rating the department achieved in 2024 and renews questions about the strategic direction of British development policy since the 2020 merger of the Foreign Office and DFID.
Scores and Rankings
The 2026 Aid Transparency Index, published by Publish What You Fund, rates the FCDO as “Good” with a score of 69.0, down from 82.9 two years ago. The index found the department lacked comprehensive forward-looking country and organisational budgets, strategies, and project objectives. The fall leaves the UK behind several peer donors in the biennial assessment of major development agencies.
The result also means the UK missed a target set in its own 2024–2025 National Action Plan for Open Government, which aimed for the FCDO to retain a “Very Good” rating in the 2026 index. The plan was published after the government achieved that score for the first time since the merger in 2024, but the latest data shows progress has stalled.
Merger Legacy and Strategic Gaps
The former Department for International Development was consistently ranked among the world’s most transparent aid agencies before it was merged with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in September 2020. Since the creation of the FCDO, the department has struggled to maintain that standard. NGOs have argued that the merger diluted a specialised development culture and that the combined department has yet to publish a formal, comprehensive strategy since 2023.
Bond, the UK network for NGOs, said the index confirms a worrying decline in transparency. Gideon Rabinowitz, the organisation’s director of policy and advocacy, said the government has implemented sweeping cuts to UK aid and changed its approach to international development without a clear and comprehensive underlying strategy, while conducting a major internal restructure that is still ongoing. He said transparency is vital to ensuring UK taxpayers’ money is well-spent and that aid reaches the countries and communities who need it most.
Broader Donor Trend
The UK is not alone. The index highlights that three of the world’s largest official development assistance donors — Germany, the United States, and the UK — have all become less transparent in the last two years. The trend coincides with a sharp contraction in global aid budgets. In 2025, global ODA budgets fell by 23.1%, with the five largest donors accounting for over 95% of that decline.
A 2022 report by the Independent Commission on Aid Impact warned that falling transparency risked sending a signal that the UK’s commitment to excellence in development cooperation is waning. The FCDO is currently led by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and managed day-to-day by Permanent Under-Secretary Lindy Cameron, who took office on 19 October 2026.
Sources
- Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
- Foreign Secretary speech at the 'Blue Finance and Innovation' event at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)
- The UK is deeply concerned by the growing threats to information integrity: UK Statement at the UN Fourth Committee | Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office
- Foreign Office ranking in Aid Transparency Index drops – TFN
- FCDO aid transparency downgraded in international ranking
- King Charles's moving handwritten message left at the Cenotaph revealed
Photo: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (CC BY 4.0)
