At a time when poverty is a large concern for many tenants finding new ways of working to help maximise the support being provided is something many are looking to achieve. Below are a couple of examples of housing providers using Lightning Reach to increase their tenant uptake of the support available to them.

Lightning Reach enables charities, local authorities, housing, utility and financial services providers to reach and provide support to individuals more effectively. The Lightning Reach platform can be used by a range of organisations to streamline or enhance the support they offer to individuals in (or at risk of) financially vulnerable circumstances.

Founded during the pandemic, they aim to empower anyone to access a range of personalised support (e.g. grants, benefits, help with their bills) - all in one place, to build financial resilience and wellbeing. For this winter, they've also set up the Winter Warmth Network to raise awareness of support available for energy and other essential costs as households face rising bills.

PA Housing started using Lightning Reach to reduce their administrative processes and provide better holistic support to customers. Below are just some of the outcomes of using this new system.

What did they change?

Before they started using Lightning Reach, PA Housing had paper based application forms which led to delays and increased administration for the PA Housing team. Up to four hours a day was spent chasing up incomplete information on the forms.

Since digitising their grant process PA Housing had seen a huge increase in demand for grants with over 500 applications submitted and a 50 per cent reduction in admin time. They have also been able to provide more holistic support to tenants, each of which is provided with a personalised list of support options when they apply. £105,000 of grants were awarded since the release of their new system and 59 per cent of tenants who applied found additional support.

Lambeth Council struggled to engage their tenants and find them support. They relied on the same few organisations to aid their tenants and struggled to know where to look for a wider variety of support.

What did they change?

Using Lightning Reach, Lambeth Council now connect tenants to personalised support, empowering residents to take control of their situation and significantly reducing time spent by their team. Applications now take 90 per cent less time (5 minutes rather than 45 minutes) to process.

£143,000 has been awarded to 4,000 Lambeth customers with the new simplified digital applications.

“The best thing about it is our tenants feel seen because they are given what they need at the right time” Valerie, income officer at Lambeth Council.