Flawed Humanitarian Aid Design
Risks to beneficiaries and UK reputation arising from badly designed and delivered development and humanitarian assistance.
Source spread
Where this theme appears
This theme appears across 9 independent accountability sources, so the source mix matters as much as the headline total.
2 inquiry recs
379 committee recs
2 NAO recs
2 IMB recs
1 IMB report
1 DHR rec
6 PHSO decisions
8 LGO/SPSO decisions
Browse by source
Source-grouped records are useful for tracing where a concern came from. Large sections show the 50 strongest matches for that source; counts still show the full theme total.
Inquiry recommendations(2)
P2-45 — Add humanitarian considerations as ninth response principle
Recommendation: That regard for humanitarian considerations be expressly recognised by making it the ninth principle of effective response and recovery. (113.69)
Gov response: The government accepts this recommendation. We will fully factor it into the outcomes of the resilience review.
Accepted
27 — Action plan to address staff desensitisation and secondary trauma
Recommendation: Contractors operating immigration removal centres must develop and implement an action plan to ensure a safe and healthy staff culture in immigration removal centres. The action plan must address: the identification of and response to any sign of desensitisation among …
Gov response: 6.8.1. The report findings in relation to contracted service provider staff behaviour and culture were shocking and unacceptable. Significant changes have been implemented to better define operational staffing levels, introduce accredited training, a code of …
Accepted, fully or in part (not specified)
Select committee recommendations(379)— showing 50 strongest matches
#2 —
Recommendation: The committee recognises that classification of humanitarian spending as ICF is not uncommon practice among the UK’s international counterparts. Nonetheless, we urge the government to minimise its use of this approach, where it arbitrarily classifies a fixed proportion of humanitarian …
#1 —
Recommendation: The government has prioritised maintaining headline ICF3 spending commitments under the constraints of its ODA budget, as opposed to striving to deliver genuine climate and nature outcomes. The government’s changes to ICF accounting methodology have undermined the impact, additionality and …
#16 —
Recommendation: Kate Burt, Chief Executive of the Haemophilia Society, told us that Government could have avoided problems experienced by the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme if it had early engagement with affected communities – before the scheme launched.37 She said that the …
#27 —
Recommendation: We are disappointed that the FCDO has not worked alongside BII to ensure that a reduction in forced displacement becomes a key criterion in BII’s investment decision making. With such a large portfolio across Nigeria—a country that hosts a vast …
Response status not verified
#22 —
Recommendation: The FCDO should review its current level of support for community-led early-warning, mediation and peacebuilding structures; and the level of female leadership within these structures. When sharing the findings of that report with the Committee, the FCDO should set out …
Response status not verified
#19 —
Recommendation: The FCDO should ensure that conflict prevention and atrocity prevention capabilities remain adequately resourced and integrated across future Nigeria and Sahel programming. This must include strengthened support for: • early-warning systems; • conflict monitoring; • atrocity prevention; • and data …
Response status not verified
#18 —
Recommendation: While many of these programmes satisfy the pleas made to us by witnesses and stakeholders for improvements in UK programming across Nigeria and the Sahel, they are clearly insufficient: conflict, extremism and banditry continue to rise, with severe knock-on effects …
Response status not verified
#13 —
Recommendation: We are shocked by the Minister’s admission that the international community has “failed” in the Sahel. (Conclusion, Paragraph 64)
Response status not verified
#8 —
Recommendation: The Committee is deeply concerned by the scale of humanitarian need in Nigeria and by evidence that humanitarian systems are increasingly unable to meet demand. These issues have the potential to undermine the goals of the Nigeria-UK Strategic Partnership. (Conclusion, …
Response status not verified
#6 —
Recommendation: The FCDO must develop a clear monitoring framework for assessing implementation of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus in Nigeria. This framework should include: • the proportion of programmes containing integrated cross-sector objectives; • the proportion of funding allocated to multi-sector programming; • …
Response status not verified
#10 —
Recommendation: The failure to plan for the Special Cases evacuations, or to put in place a fair and robust prioritisation system, left the process open to arbitrary political interventions. This is illustrated by the case of the Nowzad animal charity. Amid …
Response attribution not verified
#8 —
Recommendation: However, on the strategic and humanitarian level the evacuation fell disastrously short. Shortcomings in ARAP, the scheme to evacuate Afghans who had worked directly for the UK Government, left many waiting for a response until it was too late. A …
Response attribution not verified
#3 —
Recommendation: Most damning for the FCDO is the total absence of a plan—developed in conjunction with the Home Office—for evacuating Afghans who supported the UK mission, without being directly employed by the UK Government. The Government was never going to be …
Response attribution not verified
#51 — Prioritise security risk management fund grants to catalyse pooling of activities.
Recommendation: The security risk management fund we recommend should prioritise grants that catalyse the pooling of activities–ensuring the best value for money and maximum reach. For example, this could include funding for pooled Hazardous Environment Awareness Training, in-country NGO forums, shared …
Response attribution not verified
#50 — FCDO's contract approach obstructs cost-effective pooling of security risk management services.
Recommendation: The relief and development sector continues to strive for value for money– maximising the essential aid to those who need it whilst keeping its staff safe. We have witnessed the strong collegiate working between security risk management professionals across the …
Response attribution not verified
#48 — Establish direct FCDO contact with local delivery organisations on security during contract phases.
Recommendation: FCDO officials managing contracts where a significant amount of aid will be delivered by local organisations should aim for direct contact with the relevant local delivery organisation during the proposal agreement stage, regardless of who the contract is with. These …
Response attribution not verified
#47 — Inadequate funding arrangements hinder local organisations' security requirements in humanitarian aid delivery.
Recommendation: Approaches to negotiating contracts and funding arrangements, where local organisations will be delivering humanitarian aid, are not always fit for purpose. There are inadequate mechanisms to ensure that the security requirements of local organisations are fed through intermediaries to the …
Response attribution not verified
#46 — Ensure programme-specific security risk management costs are distinct budget lines, not administration.
Recommendation: Where programme-specific security risk management costs are still built into programme budgets, these should be a distinct budget line rather than being part of administration costs. (Recommendation, Paragraph 88)
Response attribution not verified
#45 — Establish a dedicated, flexible fund for security risk management, separate from programme costs.
Recommendation: We recommend security risk management costs are decoupled from other programme costs. There should be a designated security risk management fund that organisations delivering UK Official Development Assistance can apply to in order to support their broader security requirements. These …
Response attribution not verified
#44 — Avoid prejudicing humanitarian aid proposals with higher security costs; question lower cost proposals.
Recommendation: We recognise the impact that reducing Official Development Assistance from 0.5%-0.3% of gross national income will have on availability of funding for humanitarian relief. However, any defunding of costs associated with the security of aid workers would be a false …
Response attribution not verified
#43 — Donors and employers bear moral responsibility for mitigating risks to aid workers.
Recommendation: Whilst it is always the perpetrator who is responsible for the harm caused to victims, there is more that donors and employers could do to mitigate the risks. Indeed, it is the moral responsibility of donors to do all they …
Response attribution not verified
#40 — Underfunding of security risk management jeopardises aid worker mental health and welfare.
Recommendation: Constrained budgets and competition for funding may incentivise the over- promising of delivery by international NGOs at the risk of underfunding security risk management. This runs the risk of subjecting aid workers to unnecessary pressures, and of their welfare being …
Response attribution not verified
#37 — Overly-politicised humanitarian responses risk safe delivery of UK-funded aid.
Recommendation: While it is important that the UK’s aid, trade, defence and diplomacy objectives are coherent, there is a risk that overly-politicised humanitarian responses can make the safe delivery of UK-funded support difficult. (Conclusion, Paragraph 73)
Response attribution not verified
#35 — Malicious disinformation hampers aid worker safety and humanitarian aid delivery.
Recommendation: The safety of aid workers and aid delivery is further hampered by the spread of malicious disinformation online and in other forms of media. (Conclusion, Paragraph 71)
Response attribution not verified
#19 — Call for UNSC Special Session on IHL disregard, humanitarian access, and aid worker safety.
Recommendation: We recommend that the UK works with the other UN Member States represented on the ministerial group for the safety of humanitarian aid workers to call for a Special Session of the UNSC to discuss the problem of disregard of …
Response attribution not verified
#12 — UK has important role in supporting mechanisms for accountability of IHL breaches.
Recommendation: During an evidence session, the Minister was unclear about the extent of the application of approved approaches when it came to creative responses to the situation in Gaza. There are various mechanisms available at the international, regional and domestic levels …
Response attribution not verified
#11 — Provide clearer guidance and consider standing exemptions for humanitarian organisations regarding sanctions.
Recommendation: We encourage the Government to consider a standing exemption for relevant humanitarian organisations to ensure that they do not risk liability for their legitimate dealings with sanctioned entities. In the meantime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) must provide …
Response attribution not verified
#10 — Unclear UK anti-terrorism legislation risks limiting safe delivery of aid.
Recommendation: We applaud the work of the current and previous Governments in ensuring that the safe delivery of aid is not jeopardised by most of the UK’s own legislation. However, lack of clarity around the UK’s anti-terrorism legislation has had a …
Response attribution not verified
#9 — UK well-positioned to amplify local voices in humanitarian aid access and localisation.
Recommendation: The UK is well placed to ensure the voice of local organisations is heard in negotiations over access for humanitarian aid. This input is vital for effective and sustainable aid delivery as well as maximising the safety of 49 those …
Response attribution not verified
#8 — Explore creative diplomacy with likeminded states to solve access issues and evaluate FCDO capacity.
Recommendation: We recommend that the UK explores creative forms of diplomacy with likeminded states that can bring maximum pressure and combined diplomatic capability to solving specific access issues. As part of this initiative the diplomatic capacity and influence of the FCDO …
Response attribution not verified
#7 — FCDO's traditional approaches to humanitarian access challenges are ineffective, requiring a new strategy.
Recommendation: The FCDO appears to be repeating the same approaches to overcoming access challenges whilst expecting different results. Successful records of traditional forms of public diplomacy in promoting unimpeded access to aid are patchy at best. Polarisation within bodies such as …
Response attribution not verified
#6 — Prioritise military-to-military training on International Humanitarian Law for foreign militaries.
Recommendation: We recommend that the Government prioritises military-to-military training on IHL in line with the increase in defence spending. It should make full use of the range of resources it has at its disposal to support foreign militaries to understand not …
Response attribution not verified
#1 — Rising aid worker deaths and IHL breaches increasingly traded off by belligerents with deadly consequences.
Recommendation: Numbers of aid worker deaths are rising year on year and the situations where access to aid is deliberately impeded are also increasing. This violates the purpose of IHL: to protect civilians in a time of war. We see growing …
Response attribution not verified
#20 — Participate in multilateral peace process, supporting reconstruction and UN agencies in Gaza and West Bank.
Recommendation: A key component of the UK’s policy in support of a two-state solution must be participation in the reconstruction of Gaza and areas of the West Bank that have been rendered uninhabitable by military action. Institution building requires physical infrastructure …
Response attribution not verified
#1 — Replace Gaza Humanitarian Foundation system with a UN-led humanitarian aid system.
Recommendation: The situation in Gaza and the West Bank is intolerable. Ministers and diplomats should exert every effort to reach an immediate end to the fighting, population displacement and restrictions on supplies of essentials. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) system has …
Response attribution not verified
#20 — Set out plan to rapidly increase engagement with local actors in humanitarian settings
Recommendation: In response to this report, the Department must set out how it will make rapid progress in meeting commitments made, principally via the Grand Bargain and Global Compact on Refugees, to increase its engagement with and utilisation of local and …
Response attribution not verified
#18 — Insufficient progress meeting localisation commitments in humanitarian programming.
Recommendation: Despite long-standing commitments, the Government is not making sufficient progress in meeting its commitments to localisation in humanitarian programming. The steps taken by the UNHCR on improving localisation in its partnerships should serve as a blueprint for how the Government …
Response attribution not verified
#22 — Ensure coherence for locally-led programmes by developing a cross-departmental local leadership strategy.
Recommendation: The Minister for International Development must ensure that there is coherence across the department in respect of promoting locally-led programmes and ensuring they deliver good VfM. This should include prioritising the development of a local leadership strategy as a cross- …
Response attribution not verified
#21 — Prioritise localised interventions for specific challenges to maximise ODA value for money.
Recommendation: The Government must prioritise localised interventions for context-specific challenges, including poverty reduction and community health. Given a reduced ODA budget, these interventions should be targeted towards areas with the highest level of impact to maximise VfM and fulfil the globally …
Response attribution not verified
#14 — Cap Home Office in-donor refugee costs at a fixed percentage of total ODA.
Recommendation: The Government should consider that Home Office in-donor refugee costs should be capped at a fixed percentage of total ODA spend to protect a rapidly diminishing envelope of funding. This should include formal review points if projections breach 80% of …
Response attribution not verified
#13 — Excessive in-donor refugee spend, especially hotel costs, contravenes ODA's development spirit.
Recommendation: Whilst the Committee recognises that in-donor refugee spend is allowable under DAC rules, in a world of rapidly decreasing aid budgets it is not in the spirit of what ODA should be used for, which per the OECD is spending …
Response attribution not verified
#12 — High in-country refugee costs are disproportionately classified as ODA, diverting funds from global poor.
Recommendation: The Committee notes the continuing badging of high levels of Government spending on refugee costs within the UK as ODA with dismay. Whilst the Spending Review commits to ending the use of asylum hotels in this Parliament, the level of …
Response attribution not verified
#30 — Ensure multilateral funding scales community energy projects, empowering beneficiaries through global leadership and best practices
Recommendation: The Government should ensure that funding through multilaterals offers opportunities to scale community energy projects. It should take a global leadership role to guarantee that communities benefit from energy access projects in ways that empower them. This could include facilitating …
Response attribution not verified
#27 — Foster grassroots innovation by creating platforms for communities to co-design energy solutions
Recommendation: The Government should use its convening power to foster grassroots innovation by creating platforms for young people and local communities to co-design energy solutions. This could involve facilitating partnerships, research exchanges, and mentorship programmes between UK institutions and counterparts in …
Response attribution not verified
#23 — Government's overreliance on innovation in aid strategy carries inherent risks
Recommendation: The Government’s aid strategy rightly emphasises research and innovation, leveraging FCDO’s distinctive ability to connect global expertise with local knowledge and fostering strong partnerships with the UK research community. However, overreliance on innovation carries risks that need to be acknowledged …
Response attribution not verified
#15 — Require active involvement of disabled people in energy projects, providing accessible support and reporting outcomes
Recommendation: The FCDO should require community energy projects to actively involve people with disabilities in project design and governance, provide accessible technical and capacity-building support, and report on disability-disaggregated outcomes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 54)
Response attribution not verified
#14 — Support women's leadership and central role in community energy projects
Recommendation: The FCDO should ensure women are central to community energy projects by supporting their leadership, and designing interventions around their needs, so they act as agents of change rather than just beneficiaries. It should report on the extent to which …
Response attribution not verified
#13 — Inclusive community participation enhances the effectiveness and sustainability of energy initiatives
Recommendation: Inclusion is central to the effectiveness, sustainability, and legitimacy of community energy initiatives. Projects designed and governed with the active participation of women, people with disabilities, and other under- represented groups are more likely to deliver meaningful, lasting benefits and …
Response attribution not verified
#12 — Document and analyse community-led energy project successes and failures to inform future programmes
Recommendation: The FCDO should systematically document and analyse successes and failures of community-led energy projects, including technical, social, and financial aspects, through annual learning reviews and case studies. Findings should be shared internally and with external partners to inform the design, …
Response attribution not verified
#11 — Review FCDO accountability frameworks to support local implementers in meeting funding requirements
Recommendation: We recognise that there is sometimes a gap between the accountability expectations of donors and the capacity of local implementers. We recommend that in the next six months the FCDO reviews its accountability frameworks ensuring they are fit for purpose …
Response attribution not verified
NAO audit recommendations(2)
Progress with trade negotiations
Building on the vision set out in the 2021 Integrated Review, DIT’s Outcome Delivery Plan and the negotiations carried out to date, DIT should bring together its trade strategy in one place. This would help to: • clarify how the …
Rejected
Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme – progress review
The Department should review the information given by the Help to Buy agents and developers to potential buyers, to confirm that it fully explains the financial risks of buying a new-build property through the scheme.
Accepted
IMB individual recommendations(2)
Ford (2020)
Rehabilitation should be at the forefront of policy decisions relating to the open estate and your department’s handling of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“furlough”) was deplorable. Conflicting and misleading information has almost certainly led to some men leaving the prison system disadvantaged by significant amounts of money with which to re-enter the community at a time when they needed …
Ministry of Justice
Implemented
Charter Flight (2022)
Returnees’ understandable anxieties about money could and should be ameliorated in advance. Custodial staff or Home Office officials in the IRC must better manage expectations around returnees’ applications for a resettlement grant under the facilitated returns scheme. Secondly, HOIE must agree a best practice approach with the Prison Service to resolve the problem of returnees being removed with postal orders, …
Home Office
Independent reviews(2)
Kerslake Review — Rec 25
Consideration should be given by the Home Secretary as to what support could be made available nationally through statutory funding for those affected directly by a terrorist attack
Policing & Security
Accepted
Kerslake Review — Rec 24
The work being undertaken by the Home Office Victims of Terrorism Unit to identify and consolidate pathways of support to those affected by terrorist attacks draws on the experiences from Manchester in informing their work, and includes producing clear guidance and practical advice. This advice should be made available by …
Policing & Security
Accepted
PHSO casework decisions(6)
P-002367 — Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
A complainant alleged poor administration, communication, and conflicting advice from DESNZ led to repeated rejections of a Green Homes Grant Voucher application for window replacement.
UK Government
Dec 2023
P-001855 — Rural Payments Agency
Mr K complained about incorrect advice from Natural England leading to ineligible land claims and overpayments. He also cited a poorly conducted inspection and delays by the RPA in resolving issues.
UK Government
Upheld
Mar 2023
P-003883 — Home Office
Mr C complained the Home Office wrongly denied him Windrush Compensation and the Adjudicator upheld this decision. He felt his distress from racial prejudice was not acknowledged.
UK Government
Jul 2023
P-003024 — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Mr J complained the FCDO inadequately supported his efforts to regain access to his children, who were taken to South Africa, by not following policies and failing on promises.
UK Government
Oct 2024
P-003396 — Home Office
Ms L alleged the Windrush Compensation Scheme gave her incorrect compensation, ignored evidence, and provided misleading information, causing distress due to delays and lack of transparency.
UK Government
Mar 2025
P-001633 — Foreign and Commonwealth Office
FCDO failed to use a rebooking option for Mr A's initial flight from Bulgaria, resulting in more debt, and did not help him get a quarantine exemption, leaving him stranded and destitute.
UK Government
Oct 2022
LGO / SPSO decisions(8)
23-012-095 — Greater London Authority
Mr X complains about how the Authority installed and carried out updates to his home under the Warmer Homes Scheme. Mr X says this caused him distress and the loss of use of his property. The Ombudsman has discontinued the complaint as an alternative remedy is available to resolve the …
LGO (Local Government & …
Housing
Not Upheld
Apr 2024
25-005-394 — Transport for London
Summary: Mr X complained about the way Transport for London (TfL) handled his application to its vehicle scrappage scheme. We found TfL at fault because it wrongly rejected Mr X’s application and delayed responding to his complaints. TfL has acknowledged the fault and offered a suitable remedy.
LGO (Local Government & …
Transport And Highways
Upheld
Sep 2025
201303140 — The Highland Council
Mr C phoned the council's Scottish Welfare Fund team to ask about applying for a crisis grant. The call handler said that he was not eligible because he was not in receipt of a qualifying benefit. Mr C then complained because he felt the call handler did not deal with …
SPSO (Scottish Public Se…
Local Government
Upheld
Sep 2014
21-007-544 — Cannock Chase District Council
Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of his request for an Additional Restrictions Grant, causing him financial loss, distress and wasted time. We found fault in the Council’s communications causing injustice. We recommended the Council apologise to Mr X, consider a late grant application and take action to …
LGO (Local Government & …
Benefits And Tax
Upheld
Apr 2022
22-004-629 — London Borough of Sutton
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision that the complainants home was unsuitable for a guest to stay in, under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decision.
LGO (Local Government & …
Housing
Jul 2022
21-015-543 — Middlesbrough Borough Council
Summary: Mr B complained the Council failed to sufficiently support his business both when refusing a grant to support the business during the COVID-19 pandemic and more generally. We do not uphold the complaint finding no fault by the Council.
LGO (Local Government & …
Benefits And Tax
Not Upheld
May 2022
22-007-362 — Royal Borough of Greenwich
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an alleged misuse of public funds as such complaints are not within our remit.
LGO (Local Government & …
Housing
Sep 2022
24-019-558 — Huntingdonshire District Council
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council not fulfilling its duty to publicise or tell her about a national government financial support scheme for flooded properties. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant us investigating. There is insufficient evidence that Council …
LGO (Local Government & …
Environment And Regulation
Apr 2025