Graduate Development Programme 2025 - Legal

About the Programme

Join us as an Ofwat graduate and step into a world where you are empowered and encouraged to help us solve problems in the water industry from the very start. Our graduate programme offers a truly versatile role, great insights into how a regulator works and excellent training, enabling you to create a solid foundation for your career.

The legal team is part of the Office of the Chief Executive, sitting alongside other cross cutting teams, such as the Chief Economist team, working across Ofwat to enable our regulatory work. We work with all Directorates in Ofwat, embedded in the policy teams' work, from enforcement to price control, to help evolve and deliver Ofwat's strategy, whilst navigating and managing legal risk. We pride ourselves on providing high quality, pragmatic, solutions-focussed advice, clearly, simply and concisely. With the opportunity to support work in a range of areas, you’ll develop a broad skillset including legal, analytical, communication, drafting, presentation, policy development and stakeholder engagement skills.

We will sponsor you through the solicitor apprenticeship programme. The SQE1 and SQE2 examinations are included in this apprenticeship. Where you are successful in the programme and the examinations you will be a qualified solicitor at the end of the programme. Across our wider graduate programme, we offer rotational and static opportunities, which both provide the same learning, development and support. This is a static role within the legal team as you will need to attain qualifying work experience as part of the apprenticeship. Although a static role belonging to the legal team doing legal advice, that advice will involve working in an embedded way a variety of different policy teams covering a range of Ofwat’s work.

Examples of work that members of the Ofwat legal team have advised on are:

• Ofwat’s enforcement cases into the sector’s wastewater treatment work compliance
• Ofwat’s enforcement cases against Thames Water for dividend payments and credit ratings; Yorkshire Water for inter-company loans; and Welsh Water for reporting of leakage and water consumption
• Advising on our five yearly price reviews, including on the CMA redeterminations for the PR19 decisions, covering 2020-25
• Successfully defending a judicial review including at the Court of Appeal on wording on the incentive for water supply interruptions which determines payments back to customers
• Introducing new conditions in companies' licences to enable Ofwat to stop the payment of dividends if they would risk a company's financial resilience and to take enforcement action against water companies that do not link dividend payments to performance.
• Introducing a new customer-focused licence condition for water companies in serving residential customers to improve outcomes for customers.
• Successfully defending a judicial review claim against Ofwat concerning its obligations under the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations 1994.
• Advising on the completed merger of Pennon and Bristol Water.
• Working in an innovative partnership with the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (RAPID) to facilitate the development of national water resources infrastructure.
• Enforcement case against Thames Water for leakage performance, resulting in a package of commitments worth £120m to customers.
• Enforcement case against Southern Water for management of wastewater treatment works, resulting in £123m reparations to customers and a £3m financial penalty.
• The regulation of the Thames Tideway 'super sewer' for London.
• Devising and delivering emergency Covid business support measures for the water suppliers to business and working with the industry through the impacts of Covid.
• Supporting the establishment of our innovation fund to encourage innovation in the sector and our open data policy work, to encourage the sector to embrace the opportunities that open data presents.

Qualifications

You will have (or be on target to achieve) at least a 2:2 degree in Law. As this is a graduate programme, you must have graduated already, or be due to graduate in 2025, and have some work experience following your graduation.

Experience, Skills and Knowledge

• Experience / aptitude that will support you in providing high quality, timely and solutions-focussed legal advice across a number of Directorates, workstreams and projects which assists in the development and implementation of policy objectives.
• Be able to demonstrate analytical thinking, effective problem solving, information processing and decision making.
• Have a high interest in joining an in-house legal team, with a particular motivation for working in the regulatory environment.

Attributes and Values

Values : Throughout the selection process, we will be looking for evidence of our SAILOR values.

Attributes : We will also assess you on the following attributes and behaviours that are essential for success on the programme. These are defined more fully in our Framework for Success. The attributes which will be assessed are:

• Committed Learner
• Makes Relationships Court
• Creates Clarity
• Adaptable Thinker
• Delivers Outcomes

Have (or be on target to achieve) at least a 2:2 degree in Law. As this is a graduate programme, you must have graduated already, or be due to graduate in 2025, and have some work experience following your graduation.

Why You Should Join Us:

We’re forward-thinking, creative, innovative, and ambitious. We constantly push the boundaries and embrace new ways of working.

With us, your work matters, your voice is heard, and your impact is felt. Ours is a culture of trust, adaptability, autonomy, collaboration, and innovation. We all want positive change for water customers, the environment, and the future of water.

But for us, change is more than what happens on the outside – we’ve always pushed boundaries internally, too. From becoming the first Civil Service organisation to achieve ‘Smarter Working’ status, to gaining our prestigious ‘Smarter Working Maturity’ award, we’ve consistently demonstrated our commitment to embracing innovative ways of working. Our people do their best work when given freedom over where, when, and how they work. Which is why we trust our teams to balance meaningful collaboration in the office with the adaptability of working from home.

You will also benefit from:

• Excellent employer pension contributions of 28.97% (around £8,980 for this role). You can find further details about pension schemes under Terms and Conditions in the Candidate Pack.
• 27.5 days leave (25 days annual leave + 2.5 days privilege leave) increasing to max 32.5 days with each year of service, plus bank holidays
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets,
  theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership
• Adaptable working arrangements that suit your lifestyle
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year
• Recognition vouchers scheme
• Generous shared parental leave and pay
• Enhanced sick pay
• Regular development opportunities
• Health and wellbeing initiatives
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Season ticket loan for home-to-office travel
• Free eye tests and contribution to lenses/spectacles for VDU users

How to apply

Apply through the Civil Service Jobs website where you’ll be asked to create an account and complete an application form. If you’re unable to make an electronic application, please contact us and we will support you in completing your application.

Please ensure you have submitted your application in full ahead of the deadline listed below. Unfortunately, we won't be able to consider late applications.