Position type: Permanent
Job reference: 409643
Location: Birmingham (B5 4UA) or London (E14 4HD) based with hybrid working
Salary:£38,764 - £49,000
Closing date: Sunday 6th July 2025 at 23:55
Job title: Economist
Join Ofwat as a Economist in our Charges and Developer Services Team
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. Our work has genuine significance – no other organisation does the work we do. It’s unique and meaningful: keeping our water flowing; ensuring water bills don’t cost a penny more than needed; holding water companies to account. Come and work at the source of everyday life.
The Role
The role will support two key areas of our work: new appointees and charges.
New appointees
New appointees (also known as NAVs) are new entrant water companies initially looking to serve small, distinct geographic areas. They have expanded very quickly in recent years: while they made up only around 2% of the new connections market in 2017, we now estimate their market share to exceed 30%. We forecast that the number of NAV customers will significantly increase in the coming years, to more than 500,000 by 2030, and more than one million by 2035.
You will play a crucial role in our work to adapt our regulation to reflect the increasing scale of the NAV market, aimed at delivering better outcomes for customers, society and the environment. You will develop policy on aspects of our economic regulation of new appointees while coordinating inputs from different parts of Ofwat, including colleagues working on financial resilience, licensing, markets and customers. You will also engage with new appointees and related stakeholders.
Charges
We set charging rules to govern how incumbents and NAVs set charges for the services they provide, to households, business customers and developers. We use our charging rules to promote charges that are stable, fair, transparent, predictable and innovative. We regulate how incumbents and NAVs provide services to developers (the developer services market), stepping back from regulation where the market is stronger, and protecting customers where market choice is limited. We are currently considering a wide range of charging policy issues, including:
- improving environmental outcomes;
- encouraging companies to trial innovations in charging, aiming to support affordability and sustainability;
- reviewing the developer services market to gauge its effectiveness and how we might improve it; and
- considering how new demands for significant amounts of potable and non-potable water should be funded.
You will play an important role in developing these and other policy issues, collaborating with other parts of Ofwat, including colleagues working on cost assessment, annual reporting, water resources, and business retail. You will also engage with developers, incumbents, new appointees and related stakeholders.
About You
Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:
- An undergraduate degree in economics and/or a discipline with significant economic/numerate content and/or equivalent experience.
- Knowledge and/or experience of microeconomic analysis and/or markets, competition and regulation, and the benefits they can deliver for customers. This includes the identification and application of relevant economic, legal and policy frameworks and requirements.
- Experience of developing, managing and implementing policy.
- Experience of building and maintaining constructive working relationships with a diverse set of internal and external stakeholders to understand their needs, expectations, and priorities, and to influence and collaborate effectively to deliver desired outcomes.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including experience of identifying, analysing and accurately interpreting a range of data and insights to inform evidence-based decisions and solutions for complex problems.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to understand and concisely explain complex issues in non-technical language.
- Ability to effectively plan, prioritise and deliver multiple projects and programmes of work at the same time.
Why Join Us
- Meaningful Impact: Contribute to our purpose to drive water companies to deliver more for customers and the environment.
- Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile working and a culture of 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 meaningful collaboration in our London or Birmingham offices.
Other Benefits
- Excellent employer pension contribution of over 28%
- 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.
- Recognition vouchers scheme rewarding your hard work.
- Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.
To read more about the role and selection process, please follow the link to apply.
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 6th July 2025
