Casework, Enforcement & Customers Professional Placement

The Casework Team is the "front door" for many of the customers and stakeholders who contact Ofwat with enquiries or complaints about the sector of the water company. Where we have the legal powers to do so (typically under the Water Industry Act 1991, or the Competition Act 1998) we investigate and resolve customer disputes or water company failures, to ensure that water and wastewater companies meet their legal obligations to their customers, society and the environment. Our work also involves providing an important point of contact for customers seeking information about Ofwat's role and how we do our work as a regulator.

The Casework team also assesses applications from companies wanting to be granted a licence to serve customers in the water sector. In deciding on these applications, we aim to ensure that customers can benefit from having a choice of provider, whilst being sufficiently protected for the provision of their water and wastewater services.

Our team works with a diverse range of stakeholders, including water companies, new entrants to the sector, Government, other regulators, investors, environmental groups and customers and their representative bodies. Communicating effectively with our customers and internal and external stakeholders is central to our team's success.
As a member of our team, you’ll play a meaningful part in dealing with complex, high-impact issues which directly affect customers, society and the environment!

Professional requirements - Essential criteria

To succeed in this role you will need the following qualifications, essential attributes, experience, skills and knowledge.

Eligibility Qualifications
You should have, or be on track to achieve, at least a 2:2 degree in an analytical, research, environmental or business-related discipline, such as (but not limited to) economics, politics, international relations, law, history, geography, business management or environmental engineering from a UK university.
We also welcome applicants who have completed a Level 3, 4, or 5 apprenticeships in any of the areas listed above, as well as applicants with a relevant postgraduate qualification.  
As this is a placement programme, you must either be studying on a degree that includes a sandwich year or be a recent graduate/ apprentice with no more than three years of post-graduation work experience. 

Experience, skills and knowledge

• Lead Criterion - A keen understanding of legal policy frameworks and how they are applied to drive improvements in company performance and customer service

• A good understanding of various policy concepts, with a particular motivation for working in regulatory environments

• An ability to gather and assess quantitative/qualitative information to draw out robust conclusions for key decision makers and external stakeholders .

• Good problem solving skills, demonstrating critical thinking, decision making and information processing