Affordability Policy Lead

Join Ofwat’s Customer Policy Team as an Affordability Policy Lead

* Office Location: Birmingham (B5 4UA) or London (E14 4HD) with hybrid working*

About Us

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non‑ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.

The water sector is entering a new chapter. The government has set out a bold new direction, bringing together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment. We are collaborating with fellow regulators to respond to recommendations in The Independent Water Commission Report, the Welsh Government’s response to the Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Water Governance in Wales, and the Government’s White Paper, A new vision for water.

Ofwat is working with the government and other regulators to help create a new body for England, bringing together our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England. We are also continuing to work with the Welsh Government to support decisions on the future arrangements for Wales.

While these changes take shape, our mission remains the same: to hold water companies to account, drive performance, and ensure the sector delivers real value for customers, communities, and the environment. If you’re passionate about making a difference, this is a unique moment to join us and help shape the future of water, and together we can continue to make a positive impact.

The Role

As the Affordability Lead within the Customer Policy team you will lead one of Ofwat’s key priority areas, providing expert management, support and leadership for our customer policy work on financial vulnerability and support for customers who struggle to pay their bills. You will be responsible for delivering our work to improve company service in this area, including to improve affordability support, understand company handling of customer debt, social tariffs and other financial hardship funds. You will also support delivery of the wider strategic aims of Ofwat's customer policy work to achieve high levels of customer service and support.

You will assess policy trade‑offs and impacts on customers to inform balanced recommendations You will build strong relationships with colleagues internally and externally to identify key issues, anticipate opportunities to strengthen affordability support and shape policy priorities.

More generally, you will play a key role in delivery through project and resource planning and line management. You will be expected to support, empower and be a role model for junior members of the team, and to involve yourself in corporate activities that make Ofwat a great place to work. There will also be opportunities to work with colleagues across Ofwat on other programmes and projects to raise understanding of our casework and enforcement work and role, share expertise and deliver joint projects.

To deliver effectively in this role, you will need considerable experience of successful leadership in a high‑volume customer‑focussed or regulatory environment, where accuracy, timeliness and customer service is paramount. You will have exceptional analytical skills and judgement, with a strong ability to 'join the dots' between related topics, Ofwat's various regulatory tools, and the strategic outcomes we want to deliver. You will be able to quickly get to grips with new and varied subject areas, including relevant legal obligations, policy expectations, data sources and the strategic context in which they sit.As a policy professional at Ofwat, you will be expected to work flexibly reflecting business priorities and needs. In particular, we anticipate that you work on various projects in the customer policy team, including our customer research, and in collaboration with other Ofwat teams.

Being able to clearly structure and present evidence‑based thinking and recommendations, and to encourage and respond to constructive challenge to improve our decision‑making will be essential. You will build constructive working relationships with a diverse set of internal and external stakeholders, liaising with them to understand and influence their priorities, to build understanding and confidence about our work, horizon scan and, where appropriate, to collaborate to deliver shared objectives.

About You

Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:

• Lead criterion: Delivery in a complex customer focussed or regulatory environment, ensuring work is effectively prioritised and progressed.
• Understanding of policy issues in relation to customer service, in particular supporting customers who need extra help and/or in financial hardship.
• Experience of developing and implementing policy, translating strategic objectives into clear, practical and deliverable outcomes.
• Strong analytical skills, with experience of using quantitative and qualitative data and evidence to shape policy development.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills, including concisely explaining policy in non‑technical language.
• Excellent project management skills and experience of leading people and/or consultants to deliver packages of work
• Experience of building and maintaining constructive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders to understand their needs and expectations, and to influence and collaborate effectively to deliver desired outcomes.
• Experience of encouraging and role‑modelling a growth mind‑set and a culture of continuous improvement and personal development.

Why You Should Join Us

• People Centric: Our people are at the heart of Ofwat and everything we do - we ensure all voices are heard and treat each other with respect; you'll be given the autonomy and the support to do your role in the best way.
• Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile and new ways of working and have a culture build on trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
• Development Opportunities: Gain valuable experience and develop your skills in a supportive and dynamic setting.
• Work-Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home combined with the benefits of in person collaboration in our Birmingham and London offices.
• Excellent employer pension contributions up to 29%.
• 25 days’ annual leave, increasing to 30 with each year of service, plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave.
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership.
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
• Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.

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