Melanie Dawes

Melanie Henrietta Dawes, CB (born 9 March 1966) is a British economist and civil servant. Since March 2015, she has been Permanent Secretary of the Department for Communities and Local Government. She was the first permanent secretary to be appointed under a new scheme in which the Prime Minister has the final say over selection. She previously worked at HM Treasury, at HM Revenue and Customs, and in the Cabinet Office.

Dawes joined Her Majesty's Civil Service in 1989. After two years at the Department for Transport, she spent 15 years at HM Treasury, ending her time there in the role of Europe Director from 2002 to 2006. Then, from 2006 to 2011, she worked at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). She was Director General for Business Tax at HMRC from November 2007, replacing Dave Hartnett. From October 2011 to 2015, she was Director General of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat in the Cabinet Office.

In January 2015, Dawes was announced as the next Permanent Secretary of the Department for Communities and Local Government, succeeding Sir Bob Kerslake. She was the first permanent secretary to be appointed under a new scheme in which the Prime Minister has the final say in the recruitment process; the PM now chooses directly from a list created by the Civil Service Commissioners, rather than only having a veto over the Commissioners' preferred candidate. She took up the position on 1 March 2015.

On 1 March 2015, Dawes was additionally appointed the Civil Service Gender Champion. She was a judge for the 2015 Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Awards.

As of 2015, Dawes was paid a salary of between £160,000 and £164,999 by DCLG, making her one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.

Dawes is married to Benedict Brogan and together they have a daughter.

In the Queen's Birthday Honours for 2013, Dawes was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) "for services to the Civil Service in the field of Economic Policy".