Senior Associate Casework

We have an two Senior Associate opportunities within our Casework & Enforcement team. 

The Casework team is the "front door" for many of the customers and stakeholders who contact Ofwat with enquiries or complaints about the sector or their 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.

You can find out more about why you should join Ofwat, our strategy, values and our framework for success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack.

The Role

As a Senior Associate in the Casework team you will work across a number of our workstreams. You will respond to our more complex customer enquiries and complaints that Ofwat receives and lead and/or oversee small scale investigations, where we have legal powers to determine a dispute between a customer and their water company. You will also lead the assessment of licence applications we receive from companies wishing to operate in the water sector. You may also have responsibility for line managing staff.

The successful candidate will have strong customer service and planning skills; be able to identify and assess relevant information to make evidence-based recommendations; and be great at working with others to gather and share information clearly in writing or verbally.

You will be responsible for managing a varied caseload of customer enquiries and complaints and licence applications. Alongside leading the delivery of pieces of work yourself, you will provide guidance and  support to others in the team.

You will be expected to take strong ownership of the work you are responsible for, demonstrating Ofwat’s SAILOR values and ways of working. Ofwat is a learning organisation and you will have opportunities to further develop your knowledge and experience. We have a well-supported, agile working environment, and have a trust-based culture intended to help empower you and enable and support you to succeed within Ofwat. 

Key deliverables:

• Provide a high-quality service to customers and stakeholders contacting Ofwat via phone, letter or email with enquiries or complaints. This will require you to:
  • Use strong active listening skills to ensure you understand and can effectively respond to questions and concerns raised with us by customers and stakeholders.
  • Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of customer contacts you have responded to via our contact management system.
  • Work collaboratively with subject matter experts where needed to understand issues and prepare appropriate and timely responses.
  • Prioritise and manage your work effectively to ensure that higher risk contacts are identified, prioritised and managed appropriately.
• Lead the successful delivery of licence application assessments, complex complaints and small-scale investigations into customer disputes. This will require you to:
  • Plan and prioritise your work to meet deadlines and in line with our process and governance requirements, and to maintain complete case files.
  • Identify, gather and assess a range of relevant data and information to ensure all relevant lines of enquiry have been undertaken and support robust decision-making.
  • Clearly and concisely present objective, evidence-based conclusions and recommendations, and to convey complex information to a range of audiences both verbally and in writing.
  • Engage effectively with internal and external stakeholders to identify and gather the inputs and information you require to ensure our decisions are well-considered, timely and reflect relevant links and impacts in Ofwat's wider work.
  • Consider and manage options, costs, benefits and risks arising from your work, escalating these where appropriate.
• Support continuous improvement in our ways of working. This will require you to:
  • Identify and flag trends and insights from our work and reflecting on lessons learnt to inform future ways of working and our continuous improvement.
  • Keep abreast of Ofwat’s key announcements and wider trends and developments that might impact on our team's work.
  • Play a role in enabling the success and well-being of our whole team, by seeking out and sharing knowledge; taking account of different individuals' needs and views; supporting each other in managing and adapting to changing workloads and priorities; leading on the development of resources and training, celebrating success; and providing constructive feedback to support our learning and growth.
  • Actively participate in finding and delivering solutions to challenges that might arise in our work, and in enabling and encouraging better and more efficient ways to achieve our team's objectives.
  • Take ownership of your personal development and well-being.

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

Experience, skills and knowledge 

1. Lead criterion: Significant experience of working directly with customers and external stakeholders to provide a frontline service.
2. Lead Criterion: Experience of working under pressure, effectively planning, prioritising and managing a varied and changing workload to meet different, and often tight, deadlines, whilst ensuring quality standards.
3. Experience of handling difficult conversations with and conveying complex information to customers, including vulnerable customers by phone and in writing.
4. Experience of leading people (line management), fostering a respectful and supportive environment, motivating people and identifying and addressing performance concerns
5. Responsibility for maintaining accurate and up-to-date records / project files, with exceptional attention to detail.
6. Experience of gathering and assessing complex information to make evidence-based conclusions and recommendations.
7. Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work with internal and external stakeholders to gather and share information and to deliver a common objective.
8. Experience of implementing improved ways of working.