International development charities were among the first to suffer from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Stephanie Draper, chief executive of the aid charities umbrella group Bond, predicted that the sector could lose up to 40% of its total annual revenue. A survey of Bond members in April 2020 revealed that more than 40% of them thought they would have to close within six months, with smaller bodies most at risk. Among the first to cut jobs was Oxfam, the giant of the sector: it announced that its international division would shed 1,450 of almost 5,000 jobs and withdraw from 18 countries. A tenth of the 2,000 staff at Oxfam GB were at risk.

The fall in income came as personal donations were hit by economic hardship, fundraising activities fell back, charity shops closed for months and income from the state began to shrink. In July, the government cut £2.9 billion from overall aid spending, a 19% reduction on the previous year's figure of £15.2 billion: more than 70% of aid spending goes through the Department for International Development (DfID), from which some large charities get up to 20% of their income. Matters were made worse, according to Draper, by the government decision to merge DfID with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from September 2020, raising fears that money would be diverted from the most needy countries to strategic and political priorities. Draper said the merger “marked the beginning of the UK turning its back on the world's poorest people”, and called it a “tragic blow” when the government also reduced its commitment to international aid from 0.7% of gross national income – enshrined in law since 2013 – to 0.5% for 2021. Despite opposition from hundreds of charities, MPs from seven parties and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the intention in his one-year spending review in November 2020, breaking a 2019 manifesto pledge and, in effect, cutting the aid budget by a third to £10 billion in 2020–21. However, the move required a change in the law and the government looked likely to endure a bruising battle to get it through Parliament.