5 years after UK aid merger, 60% of development adviser jobs are empty

Around 60% of U.K. government development adviser posts remain unfilled nearly five years after the axing of a separate aid department triggered an exodus of disillusioned staff members. The failure to find replacements for scores of employees who quit rather than join the merged Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office was the fault of a freeze on external recruitment, according to FCDO officials who gave evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry Tuesday. Nick Dyer, a senior civil servant, denied the staffing crisis was the result of a controversial “Brits only” policy at FCDO — and revealed the new Labour government has ended the Conservative-imposed freeze, with a drive to recruit 200 new staffers now underway. The Department for International Development was swallowed up into FCDO in June 2020, but Dyer admitted the rebuilding of lost development expertise remained “a longer-term challenge.” “We did lose about 20% of our professional capability just after the merger. If you look at our recruitments now, about 60% of all the development advisory roles in 2024, this year, haven't been filled because we haven’t got enough people in the business to be able to fill them,” he told the International Development Committee. Dyer added that “our bigger problem was we lost a lot of seniority.” Asked if that was because many experienced staff members resigned because of the merger, he admitted: “There was a certain amount of that going on.” The 60% figure suggests the recruitment problems have worsened even since they were highlighted in a highly critical watchdog report almost one year ago. During the evidence sessions, Dyer also: • Said FCDO’s position as aid “spender of last resort” — meaning its budget is cut if other departments spend more aid — has “been quite damaging for us” in recent years. • Admitted government pledges to stop diverting billions from the aid budget to meet domestic refugee costs are “really uncertain because it depends on how many people are applying for asylum” — although he claimed those costs are currently “coming down.” • Agreed adopting the Dutch system of a 10% cap on these in-donor refugee costs would help with the “predictability” of the FCDO’s budget. The U.K. has no plans for any such cap. • Revealed an “aid transparency review” will be completed in every government department by the summer — to ensure they, like the FCDO, meet internationally recognized standards. In testimony given later in the same inquiry, the development minister Anneliese Dodds: • Played down a “Trump impact” on U.K. development policy — arguing that the U.K. will focus on a “clear set of priorities for ourselves,” regardless of events in Washington. • Did not rule out cuts to previously announced bilateral aid pledges when long-delayed 2024-25 allocations are finally released “in due course” — but said she hoped to avoid “significant changes.” • Said FCDO will not publish the development “capability” review carried out by Minouche Shafik, the former DFID top civil servant — because it was a review for ministers, rather than “something that might be published.” Although Shafik’s remit was how to improve FCDO and deepen the alignment of diplomacy and development, Devex recently revealed she believes she must “help figure out” Labour’s priorities because of a lack of “clarity” since last July’s election victory.