‘Severe' risk to aid work from controversial merger, UK government admits

The United Kingdom government has acknowledged a “severe” risk that international development skills and expertise are being lost, more than three years after it axed its separate aid department. The admission is disclosed in a public spending watchdog’s report into the 2020 creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, which also criticizes a failure to properly assess the costs and benefits of the controversial merger. The study warns that internal “trust in the organisation” is still being damaged by a failure to align “pay and allowances” of staff who worked at the former Department for International Development and at FCDO. FCDO “monitoring has shown that, throughout the period, staff have experienced change fatigue and are unhappy that key issues such as terms and conditions and career pathways have yet to be resolved,” the National Audit Office, or NAO, finds. Crucially, its report warns that “the loss of dedicated senior development roles has reduced capacity and undermined FCDO’s credibility and Official Development Assistance (ODA) accountability” — highlighting a 14% fall in the number of expert adviser roles, from 867 in 2019 to 747 in 2022. It also found that, in January 2024, 25% of program management positions in its Major Programmes Portfolio were reported as vacant. In 2022, Devex reported that nearly 100 former DFID advisers had departed FCDO between Sept. 1, 2020, and Nov. 30, 2021, and had not been replaced. “FCDO has been aware of the risk of not sustaining its international development skills and expertise,” the report said — noting the risk was classed as “severe,” and that the organization is “working to mitigate” it. Bond, the U.K. network for aid organizations, said the findings showed “critical shortcomings must urgently be addressed” if the merged FCDO is to “effectively champion development goals.” “Three years on, it is alarming that the department itself rates the risk of not sustaining its international development skills and expertise as ‘severe’,” said Gideon Rabinowitz, Bond’s policy director. NAO said it had “found evidence of benefits” toward the objective of the merger, which was to “unite the UK’s development and diplomacy efforts” to “achieve a more coherent and integrated approach.” Examples included the response to the 2022 Ebola crisis in Uganda, to the wars in Ukraine and Sudan, and the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. There is now a “greater focus on development issues in countries where DFID did not previously have a presence.” “In the UK, having everyone in one department allows FCDO to convene different teams quickly, for officials to work together to develop options and provide consolidated advice without delays or conflicts between departments,” the report states. Fears of “a ‘takeover’ of DFID by FCO” had eased following the beefing up to Cabinet level of the development minister post, with the appointment of Andrew Mitchell in late 2022, and the creation of a new senior civil servant post to oversee aid spending in summer 2023. However, the report sharply criticizes: • The failure to include “the indirect costs in terms of disruption, diverted effort and the impact on staff morale” in the stated cost of the merger: £24.7 million ($31.2 million.) “With unclear objectives, and the absence of mechanisms to track full costs and identify benefits, there is insufficient evidence to conclude on the value for money of this merger,” NAO says. • The original delivery plan as “unrealistic in scope and timing.” It was later slashed from 12 programs to just seven. • The failure to act on repeatedly raised concerns over allowances including for “children’s education and the overseas travel package,” to ensure “all staff are treated consistently” when working overseas. FCDO is still seeking Treasury approval to make the necessary changes. It hopes to begin doing so this summer, but only for new overseas postings. • That “staff still lack clarity around career progression and capability requirements in the merged organisation.” NAO also highlights that FCDO has 556 more staffers than before the merger — yet its 2022-23 budget of £10.4 billion was down 23%, largely because of the huge aid cuts that began in 2021. Gareth Davies, head of NAO, said: “FCDO has made substantial progress with its merger against a challenging backdrop of COVID-19, international crises and cuts to the aid budget.” It took sensible action to get the merger back on track when it was clear it could not be delivered to the original plan. “However, more than three years on from the merger, there is still work to do to resolve remaining issues, ensure the basics are delivered and achieve the long-term benefits of a fully integrated department.”