OVERSEAS aid fell to the lowest level in nearly two decades last year, official data showed today, as a government impact assessment found women and children “suffer most” from cuts.

Provisional data on official development assistance (ODA) for 2025 revealed that last year’s aid spending matched the previous record low in 2008.

The government’s own impact assessment for £6 billion in planned cuts by 2027 found that existing projects to help women and children in humanitarian emergencies would be disproportionately affected.

Spending will be reduced from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of gross national income in the next two years, with funds being redirected towards defence, according to plans announced by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper last month.

In response to the new spending blueprints, Whitehall published an official impact assessment this week, warning: “Safeguarding spend will disproportionately reduce, with women and children particularly affected.”

Despite the warnings, the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has insisted it will “continue to require that all organisations we fund meet international safeguarding standards.”

Ms Cooper has also claimed Britain would remain a “major player” humanitarian aid and development despite moving a significant portion of the funds toward the military.

War on Want’s Nuri Syed Corser told the Star: “It’s truly shameful that the government has slashed its overseas development spending – and international climate finance – this must be immediately reversed.

“Higher military spending leads to cutbacks in essential public services – which disproportionately impact marginalised communities, including women, LBGTQI+ groups, and black and indigenous people.”

He added that Britain has “spent centuries getting rich by plundering wealth from other countries through colonialism, and burning the fossil fuels which have caused the climate crisis. We need to step up and make reparations for these harms.”