Decision

Nehemiah United Churches Housing Association Limited (L3833) - Regulatory Judgement: 30 July 2025

Updated 30 July 2025

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.	First grading	July 2025
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	July 2025
Viability	V2 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements. It has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance.	Assessed and unchanged	July 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Nehemiah United Churches Housing Association Limited (Nehemiah) following an inspection completed in July 2025.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C2, a governance grading of G1 and a financial viability grading of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Nehemiah were last updated in November 2024 following a stability check which confirmed grades of G1 and V2. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.

Summary of the decision

Based on the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection it is our judgement that there are some weaknesses in Nehemiah’s delivery of the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to the Safety and Quality and Transparency, and Influence and Accountability standards. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Nehemiah.

Our judgement is that Nehemiah meets our governance requirements. Nehemiah has provided evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of its governance arrangements and that it continues to effectively manage the risks of its activities, allowing it to deliver its strategic and charitable objectives. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for Nehemiah.

Our judgement is that Nehemiah meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to manage a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Nehemiah has limited financial headroom, and a number of financial risks need to be managed, including increased investment in its existing homes. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for Nehemiah.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Nehemiah to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and meeting our governance and financial viability requirements, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. During the inspection, we considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

During the inspection we observed a board meeting and a tenant scrutiny group meeting, spoke with tenants and held meetings with Nehemiah, including with its non-executive directors. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Nehemiah.

Our regulatory judgement is based on the relevant information we obtained during the inspection, as well as analysis of information supplied by Nehemiah through its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C2 – July 2025

During the inspection, Nehemiah provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of tenants in their homes. We saw evidence that inspections were completed to schedule and that remedial actions were carried out within appropriate timescales. We also had assurance that Nehemiah’s repairs and maintenance service is effective, efficient and timely, which includes responding to instances of damp and mould.

Nehemiah’s understanding of the condition of its homes is supported by physical surveys, but we found weaknesses in its approach to recording its findings. We therefore lacked assurance that Nehemiah has a robust understanding of the condition of its homes that reliably informs the provision of good quality, well maintained and safe homes for tenants. Nehemiah is strengthening the external validation of its physical survey data, and our engagement will continue while it makes improvements to provide assurance it is delivering the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard.

In relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, we have assurance that Nehemiah provides tenants with accessible information about its performance and services, and that it is committed to supporting the diverse needs of tenants. However, we found weaknesses in its understanding of the diverse needs of tenants, including those arising from protected characteristics, language barriers and additional support needs, and in its approach. This impacts Nehemiah’s ability to assess whether its services deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants and to respond accordingly. We will continue to engage with Nehemiah while it enhances its understanding of tenants and how it uses this information.

Nehemiah offers tenants a wide range of meaningful opportunities to influence and scrutinise its strategies, policies and services. While its tenant scrutiny group is in its infancy, we received assurance that Nehemiah engages with tenants in a variety of ways, listens to their views and enables them to influence policies and services.

We have assurance that Nehemiah addresses complaints fairly, effectively and promptly and that it learns from its complaints to continually improve services.

We saw evidence that Nehemiah is delivering the outcomes of the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, including through its partnership working with other organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate incidents, and to promote wellbeing.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, Nehemiah has a fair and transparent approach to allocations and lettings and supports its tenants to maintain their tenancy.

Governance – G1 – July 2025

Based on evidence gained through the inspection, we have assurance that Nehemiah’s governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage its risks and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its objectives.

Nehemiah’s board has set a clear and consistent strategic direction to deliver priorities for tenants and is supported by effective executive leadership. It considers options for delivering its strategic aims and keeps these under review. We saw evidence that tenant feedback and views are taken into account in Nehemiah’s governance through its tenant scrutiny group and various engagement opportunities. The board regularly reviews its own effectiveness, along with external reviews of its governance arrangements. Nehemiah’s most recent external governance review took place in 2022.

The board’s skills and experience align to Nehemiah’s activities and risk profile. Its governance structure is supported by robust information that directs board members’ attention to material issues and key risks and supports effective decision making. The quality of financial reporting received by the board is sufficient to allow oversight of key financial risks. Nehemiah’s board regularly seeks and gains assurance across a range of risk areas, supported by a programme of internal audits.

We received assurance that Nehemiah’s stress testing is used effectively as a risk management tool. Regular reporting to board on performance against the budget and business plan assumptions provides sufficient oversight to enable the board to identify and respond to signs of risks crystalising.

Nehemiah continues to strengthen its internal controls, seeking external validation and review as appropriate. It has demonstrated its ability to identify issues and put in place improvement plans, and this will remain important to its delivery of the required improvements in relation to the consumer standards.

Viability – V2 – July 2025

Based on the evidence gained through the inspection, we have appropriate assurance that Nehemiah’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Nehemiah has an adequately funded business plan, with access to sufficient liquidity and security, and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants. Nehemiah does not rely on sales of new homes or efficiencies to meet covenant requirements.

Nehemiah continues to meet our viability requirements, although its most recent business plan shows its financial resilience is weaker than in previous years. This is primarily a result of spending more on its existing homes and increasing its plans for developing new homes. It also needs to manage material risks in order to deliver its objectives. We have assurance that board reporting and oversight is in place to manage its financial risks, including to monitor performance against its golden rules and covenants. Stress testing demonstrates that Nehemiah can manage a reasonable range of adverse scenarios.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Nehemiah United Churches Housing Association Limited (Nehemiah) is a community benefit society operating in the West Midlands. It has around 1,250 homes, mainly general needs and housing for older people, with a small number of supported housing properties.

It has one dormant, unregistered subsidiary, Nehemiah Ventures, which was incorporated to provide and manage market rented properties.

At 31 March 2024, Nehemiah employed 32 full-time equivalent staff. Turnover for the year ended 31 March 2024 was £8.6m. Nehemiah plans to develop or acquire around 42 homes by 2028.

Our role and regulatory approach

We regulate for a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver quality homes and services for current and future tenants.

We regulate at the landlord level to drive improvement in how landlords operate. By landlord we mean a registered provider of social housing. These can either be local authorities, or private registered providers (other organisations registered with us such as non-profit housing associations, co-operatives, or profit-making organisations).

We set standards which state outcomes that landlords must deliver. The outcomes of our standards include both the required outcomes and specific expectations we set. Where we find there are significant failures in landlords which we consider to be material to the landlord’s delivery of those outcomes, we hold them to account. Ultimately this provides protection for tenants’ homes and services and achieves better outcomes for current and future tenants. It also contributes to a sustainable sector which can attract strong investment.

We have a different role for regulating local authorities than for other landlords. This is because we have a narrower role for local authorities and the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, and Value for Money Standard do not apply. Further detail on which standards apply to different landlords can be found on our standards page.

We assess the performance of landlords through inspections and by reviewing data that landlords are required to submit to us. In Depth Assessments (IDAs) were one of our previous assessment processes, which are now replaced by our new inspections programme from 1 April 2024. We also respond where there is an issue or a potential issue that may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. We publish regulatory judgements that describe our view of landlords’ performance with our standards. We also publish grades for landlords with more than 1,000 social housing homes.

The Housing Ombudsman deals with individual complaints. When individual complaints are referred to us, we investigate if we consider that the issue may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards.

For more information about our approach to regulation, please see Regulating the standards.

Further information

• Regulating the standards

• Regulatory standards for landlords