About the job

Job summary

As the UK’s regulator for the energy industry, Ofgem works on behalf of energy consumers to ensure that every household and business in the UK can rely on a safe, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy supply. Record increases and volatility in global prices have put the energy market under severe strain, and pricing is the subject of intense interest from retail consumers, stakeholders and government alike.

Such challenging times require bold action. We are looking for people to meet the challenges we face head-on, and help us deliver a greener, fairer energy system.

You will be someone who:

- Enjoys developing new skills, capabilities and expertise and being engaged across a broad range of diverse activities, including stakeholder engagement, investigation, policy development and project management.

- Is interested in the energy sector in the broad sense, passionate about ensuring good outcomes for current and future consumers, protecting consumers, and eager to help drive Ofgem’s contribution to delivering Net Zero.

- Champions our culture of inclusion and encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our colleagues, fuelling our innovation and ensuring we best represent the consumers and the communities we serve.

Job description

Team Purpose and Role

Successful candidates first deployment will be across Delivery & Schemes supporting the delivery of compliance and enforcement activities, working within one or across a combination of scheme portfolios.

After the initial deployment, you will be expected to work flexibly across Ofgem as a member of the Compliance & Enforcement Profession, working on cross-Ofgem projects, and/or in teams where you have in-demand specialist skills or expertise.

Compliance and Enforcement Profession

Ofgem has recently launched a Professions framework and a successful candidate will be a member of the Compliance and Enforcement Profession. Through the Profession you shall get the support and development you need to excel. It will give you exposure to the full range of compliance and enforcement activity across Ofgem, from deterring fraud on energy efficiency schemes to monitoring the wholesale market, and everything in between.

Delivery & Schemes

Ofgem delivers renewable energy and social programmes on behalf of government – this is done through the Delivery and Schemes Directorate. These schemes are varied – covering renewable heat, renewable electricity, energy efficiency and fuel poverty – collectively, they are worth £9bn a year. And crucially, these schemes are critical to hitting our Net Zero goals and providing support for households.

Participant Compliance Teams

Through our work, we ensure that those who sign-up to the schemes (known as ‘scheme participants’) get the support they need, without consumers and taxpayers paying more than they should be. A key aspect of this is investigating any concerns we may have with regards to compliance with the rules and obligations by scheme participants. Successful candidates will be deployed to one of our Participant Compliance Teams working across the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), Feed-in Tariffs Scheme (FITs), Renewables Obligation (RO) or Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

Our compliance activity involves investigating and resolving compliance issues relating to scheme participants accreditations that have been picked up through our audit and counter fraud work.

Supplier Compliance Teams

The work involved varies – from running the numbers to ensure that suppliers pay the

right amount into the Feed-In-Tariff schemes; to checking the different measures suppliers are submitting for approval to meet their Energy Companies Obligation (ECO). Through this work, we ensure that consumers and participants get the support they need, without consumers and taxpayers paying more than they should be. Our compliance activity involves investigation and resolving compliance issues relating to supplier obligations under the schemes.

The Successful Candidate:

Will support the delivery of compliance and enforcement activities across Ofgem. These roles could include supporting the delivery of compliance programmes, monitoring energy supplier performance against statutory obligations, risk management, or providing support on specific assurance projects.  It will also involve, liaising with internal and external stakeholders, identification and investigation of suspected fraud or error, analysing a wide range of and evidence information against agreed standards. They will be able to identify where gaps in evidence need to be explored in order to make sense of it and present findings to senior members of staff. They will also have good verbal and written have communication skills, including an ability to communicate complex issues in a clear and concise manner. They will be able to work as part of a team and independently. 

Person specification

In the event of receiving a large number of applications an initial sift may take place on just the identified lead criteria indicated below.

Essential

• Investigation and Analysis: The ability to collect, analyse and investigate qualitative and quantitative date and evidence to arrive at conclusions and offer recommendations [Lead criteria].
• Communication: Good written and verbal communication skills effectively communicate complex issues to non-expert audiences.
• Self-Starter: Ability to proactively prioritise and you’re your work and deliver quality outputs in dynamic environment.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Ability to establish and maintain collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. 

Desirable

• Policy and Legislation: The ability to work with and interpret legislation Government policy.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £23,450, OFGEM contributes £6,332 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the essential and desirable skills and capabilities.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.