Legal Graduate Professional Placement Programme (12 months)

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 Governments response to the Green Paper , Shaping the Future of Water Governance in Wales , and the Governments 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 youre 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.

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.

About the Professional Placement Programme

Join us as on an Ofwat Graduate 12 Month Legal Professional Placement Programme 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 12-month 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 Directorate. We're involved in the heart of Ofwat's work, particularly at this critical time for the water sector. We work with all directorates, embedded in the policy team's work, to help evolve and delivery Ofwat's strategy, whilst navigating and managing legal risk. We pride ourselves on providing high quality, pragmatic, solutions-focused advice, clearly, simply and concisely, sitting alongside other cross cutting teams, such as the Major Projects, Enforcement teams, working across Ofwat to enable our regulatory work.

With the opportunity to support work in a range of areas, youll develop a broad skillset including legal, analytical, communication, drafting, presentation, policy development and stakeholder engagement skills.

We're committed to supporting your professional development. As part of this role, you'll receive support towards SQE1, including learning and development, dedicated study leave, and the opportunity to complete the SQE1 examination. Support for SQE2 is not included within the current role timeframes. This support will help you progress towards solicitor qualification while developing valuable qualifying legal experiences within Ofwat's legal team.

This is a static role within the legal team as you will need to attain qualifying work experience as part of the programme. Although this is a static role in the legal team providing legal advice, that advice will involve working in an embedded way, with a variety of different policy teams, covering a range of Ofwat's work.

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

• Working with Defra policy and legal colleagues to translate the wide-ranging proposals to reform regulation of the water sector into instructions for the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to draft provisions for the forthcoming Clean Water Bill.
• Advising on significant enforcement cases, including investigations into water companies failures to meet their regulatory obligations, which can include substantial financial penalties and enforcement orders.
• Supporting Ofwat's PR24 price review programme, including through year-long appeals to the Competition and Markets Authority from five companies.
• Working on Ofwat's in period price determinations and developing the framework for the next 5-yearly price determination in 2029, through the transition to the new regulator.
• Advising on setting up and implementing supervision style regulation prior to and ready for the change to the new regulator.
• Providing regulatory, commercial and legal advice to facilitate the delivery of major infrastructure projects.
• Supporting Ofwat's involvement in judicial review proceedings concerning environmental regulation in the water sector.
• Other areas of policy the teams advise on include class actions in competition law cases, company governance and financial resilience, data and AI.

Learning and Development

During your 12-month placement, youll benefit from a comprehensive blend of personal and professional development designed to help you thrive. Youll take part in Ofwat Essentials, our core learning programme delivered by in-house experts, alongside monthly training sessions provided through our early careers team.

Youll have the chance to deliver and support meaningful internal and external projects, gaining the knowledge and confidence to make a real impact. Your placement will give you valuable insight into how our organisation works and help you grow your creativity, leadership and strategic thinking, setting you up to achieve your aspirations beyond the programme.

In addition to on-the-job' learning, youll have access to technical training tailored to your development needs, as well as wider learning opportunities which can include visits to water companies operational sites. Youll be equipped with the tools, experiences and support you need to flourish in your profession and build a strong foundation for your future career.

You will also be supported by a wide network of stakeholders across Ofwat, including your people leader, the early careers team and a dedicated buddy. In addition, youll have the option to work with one of our internal coaches, offering personalised guidance to help you make the most of your development journey with us.

Professional requirements - Essential criteria

To succeed in this role, you will need the following qualifications, attributes, experience, skills and knowledge.

Experience, skills and knowledge

1. Lead Criterion: 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.
2. Strong motivation for working an in-house legal team which focusses on advising in the context of public law and economic regulation of utilities.
3. Ability to demonstrate effective problem solving,  critical thinking, decision making and information processing.
4. Strong spoken and written communication skills, including the ability to write clearly and concisely.

Attributes

Ofwat's Attributes underpin our SAILOR values. Throughout the selection process, we will assess you on the following attributes that are essential for success on the programme. These are defined more fully in our Framework for Success (associate grade).

5. Committed Learner "I'm flexible, curious and adaptable, committed to my own growth and ...