The UK must not abandon the world’s children

This cannot be the moment the UK turns its back on the world’s most vulnerable children.

Cutting international aid for children is not just a policy choice – it’s a broken promise. Britain once led the way in global development, championing health, education and protection for millions of children. Today, that leadership is faltering. And without action, the Government’s forthcoming aid budget allocations could accelerate a dangerous retreat.

The trajectory is stark. UK aid will fall dramatically by 2027, with child-focused support projected to drop to half of its 2019 level. Children, who bear the brunt of conflict, climate shocks and poverty, are being hit hardest as Official Development Assistance (ODA) shrinks drastically.

When donor countries around the world, including the UK, turn their backs on children, the impact is alarming. Take HIV prevention: if coverage is allowed to halve, projections show 1.1 million more children could contract HIV, and 820,000 could die by 2040. Progress that took decades to achieve could unravel in just a few years.

Education tells a similar story. Spending is forecast to fall by 24 per cent, a reduction that could force six million more children out of school. To put that in perspective, that’s the same as emptying all the primary schools in the UK. Imagine entire classrooms abandoned, dreams deferred, and generations left without the tools to build a better future. That’s the scale of what’s at stake.

This is not only a moral failure, but it’s also a strategic miscalculation. Investment in children and global health ultimately underpins stability, prosperity and global security – outcomes that serve Britain’s long-term interests.

The UK government now has a choice: to lead, or to fail millions of children around the world. The evidence and moral case for protecting aid to children is overwhelming, and action is urgently needed. The UK must spend at least a quarter of ODA on children: this would mean a 27 per cent increase to the education budget, a 10 per cent increase to the health budget, and a 53 per cent increase to the WASH budget, so children have access to the vital services they need.

Britain cannot afford to abdicate its responsibility. Because when aid is cut to children, we don’t just break promises – we jeopardise futures.

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Najib Bajali is Senior Policy and Advocacy Adviser at UNICEF UK.

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