Policy Specialist

We’re Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, responsible for regulating water and wastewater services in England and Wales. Our role is to help the sector build trust and confidence with customers, the environment and wider society: keeping water flowing, bills affordable and helping ensure the health of our rivers and waterways. We push hard to improve day-to-day water company performance for customers, including on leakage, sewer flooding and customer service.

We drive the sector to take a longer-term view and to take steps now to protect and enhance the environment, using digital and data innovations and making sure our water supplies are secure for future generations. Through our five yearly price reviews we oversee billions of pounds of investment into the water sector across England and Wales.

You can find out more about Ofwat, our Values and our Framework for Success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack. 

The Price Review Directorate

Ofwat’s Price Review Directorate is a key team in Ofwat. We are working to deliver the next Price Review, which will be completed in 2024 (PR24). We published our PR24 final methodology in December 2022, which shares our decisions about our approach to the 2024 price review.  

On 1 October 2023, water companies submitted their business plans to us about how they will deliver these ambitions to us over the five-year period from 2025 until 2030. We are in the process of assessing the business plans.

***Internal Job Title – Principal Policy***

We have an opportunity for a Policy Specialist to join our Outcomes team for PR24. We set service quality standards for water companies to improve outcomes for customers, communities and the environment. Our role is key for Ofwat meeting its goal of incentivising the water sector to deliver greater environmental and social value.

We are looking for a Principal to lead our policy development and implementation work on the incentives that measure the experiences of water company customers. As well as households, this includes firms that are developing new properties that need to be connected to the water and wastewater networks (“developer services”) and business customers in Wales, who cannot choose their retail services provider. These measures of experience are known as C-MeX,D-MeX and the business customer experience in Wales (BCEW) measure. This is an exciting time to work on customer incentives at Ofwat. Companies need to do more to improve their customers’ experiences of using their services. 

This role will have a significant impact in securing the best outcomes for water customers in the PR24 period of 2025-2030 and afterwards. The ideal candidate must have a strong interest in customer policy and excellent project management skills.

Key objectives:

In this role you will be responsible for:

• Managing the delivery of survey pilots carried out by an external contractor for new survey approaches relating to C-MeX and D-MeX;
• Finalising C-MeX and D-MeX design for PR24, including survey methods;
• Finalising the policy design of the measures of experience for PR24, including the approach to incentives and survey components, as part of our draft and final determinations in 2024;
• Leading the successful procurement and implementation of the measures of experience for the next price control period (2025-30);
• Leading on the collection of data and calculation of financial incentives for the remainder of the current price control period (2020-25) and the next price control period from 1 April 2025;
• Managing the survey agent contract and addressing any performance issues where necessary;
• Developing policy and implementing it as required by Ofwat; and
• Creating analysis and drafting text to support internal decision-making and external publications. 

  You can read more about the role and the team in the attached Candidate Pack.

To be successful in this role you will have the below essential attributes, skills, experience and knowledge:

Experience, Skills and Knowledge:

• Lead Criterion: Significant experience in policy analysis, including development and assessment, using both quantitative and qualitative techniques.
• Undergraduate degree in a numeric (or other relevant to the role discipline) and/or equivalent policy experience.
• Experience of effectively managing large policy projects, including independent consultants.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, demonstrated by experience of influencing a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong interest in and aptitude for customer policy.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to understand and confidently explain analysis in non-technical language.

Attributes:

• You are a champion and leader of change
• You deliver outcomes
• You are an adaptable thinker
• You make relationships count

You can read more about Attributes in Ofwat’s Framework for Success

Why you should Join Ofwat:

We are forward-thinking, creative, innovative and ambitious. We actively encourage autonomy, collaboration and innovation and we have a unique culture fostered by trust, flexibility and respect.

We strive to ensure our people feel connected and valued, where their voice matters. You will be provided with the space and support to shape your future while taking greater control of your own growth and development.

You will also benefit from:

• excellent civil service pension scheme with employer contribution of 27.9% 
• 25 days annual leave (increasing to max 30 with each year of service) in addition to 10.5 bank holiday and privilege leave days
• access to exclusive discounts on a range of goods and services such as retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance and gym membership;
• fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies;
• up to 3 volunteering days per year;
• recognition vouchers;
• enhanced shared parental leave and pay;
• enhanced sick pay;
• cycle-to-work scheme;
• season ticket loan for travel between home and office;
• health and well-being initiatives

Job contact :

• Name : recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk
• Email : recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ofwat.gov.uk