Will Macfarlane
Biography
Will Macfarlane was appointed as Director General, Tax & Welfare at HM Treasury in September 2025.
Prior to this role, Will was Director General, Strategy & Major Events at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Will has spent most of his career in HM Treasury working mainly on tax policy, fiscal policy, international economic issues, and the Scotland analysis programme. As Director of Strategy, Planning and Budget Will was the lead adviser to the Chancellor on the Budget and SRO for all fiscal events, and also supported the Executive Management Board to deliver business planning, departmental strategy and the best use of the flexible strategic project resource. From 2019 to 2023, Will was posted to Brussels with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office where he represented the UK as Deputy Ambassador to the European Union and Director, Economics and Trade through the negotiation of the UK’s new relationship with the EU. Between 2015 and 2019, Will worked in the office of the Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street, as Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the PM.
Will lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and three children.
Previous roles in government
| 2025 | Director General Strategy & Major Events, DCMS |
| 2023 to 2025 | Director of Strategy, Planning and Budget at HM Treasury |
| 2022 to 2023 | Deputy Ambassador, UK Mission to the EU, Brussels |
| 2019 to 2022 | Director, Economics and Trade, UK Mission to the EU, Brussels |
| 2016 to 2019 | Director and Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street |
| 2015 to 2016 | Deputy Director and Private Secretary (Economic Affairs) to the Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street |
| 2014 to 2015 | Deputy Director, Budget and Tax Strategy |
| 2012 to 2014 | Deputy Director, Scotland analysis |
Director General, Tax and Welfare
Responsibilities include:
- advising the Chancellor of the Exchequer on business, international and personal tax, labour markets, welfare and customs.
- oversight of the department’s central strategy function, flexible policy pool and Budget process.
- the Treasury’s relationships with HMRC and DWP and representing the Treasury externally to support effective communication of the government’s tax and welfare plans