Lambeth Council and Lightning Reach: NEC Housing software integration for streamlined homelessness applications

Lambeth Council uses Lightning Reach to collect homelessness applications and supporting documents from residents and referral partners. The platform enabled the council to gather more consistent, detailed information at the point of application, but this also exposed the limits of a manual, back office process. To address this, Lambeth partnered with Lightning Reach to integrate application data directly into NEC. We recently spoke to Clare Harding, Assistant Director of Transformation at Lambeth Council, to reflect on the process of setting up the integration and its early impact.

The integration sends application data from Lightning Reach directly to Lambeth's NEC Housing software

The challenge before integration

Before the integration was in place, Lambeth’s business support team manually processed every application that came in through Lightning Reach and other routes. Each application required staff to create a new case in the NEC Housing Software, manually add household members, and upload all supporting documents one by one. Applicants submitted an average of 10 to 15 documents per application, leading to a typical processing time of around 17 minutes, which increased substantially in cases where more documents were received, sometimes over 100.

This additional administrative burden put pressure on the business support team, particularly during busy periods. As Clare put it, “just copying information that an applicant’s given us into another system doesn’t add any value.”

Steps to set up the integration with NEC Housing Software

The integration was delivered by a small, cross-functional team, bringing together two colleagues from Lambeth’s IT team, their operational housing team, a small group of caseworkers who supported testing, alongside the tech team at Lightning Reach.

1. Mapping Lightning Reach questions to NEC fields

Lambeth first reviewed the Lightning Reach application in full and decided how information should map over into NEC. Rather than creating new fields, the team agreed which information needed to be mapped into existing fields and which could remain accessible via the original application if required.

2. Building the technical integration

Next, two members of Lambeth’s IT team worked with Lightning Reach to call the API, and pull application data into NEC and automatically create application and household records. The Lightning Reach team supported closely throughout, providing documentation, answering questions, and joining calls where helpful.

3. Setting up notifications and workflows

Because applications would no longer arrive via email, Lambeth introduced a task management process within NEC. New applications would be assigned to a team queue, allowing officers to allocate cases while keeping oversight clear.

4. Testing with frontline staff

A small group of officers tested the integration as it was developed, checking records, documents, and workflows. Their feedback helped identify issues early and built confidence ahead of go live.

5. Training and going live

Staff received clear, practical training focused on how the integration worked in practice. Additional hands on support and follow up sessions ensured teams felt supported during the transition.

What changed after integration

With the integration live, applications from Lightning Reach are now pulled into NEC several times a day, allowing a real-time view of applications in one place, rather than waiting for manual transfer of information. The integration automatically updates their housing advice module, as well as creating new records for household members. 

The integration has reduced processing time and removed a significant amount of repetitive administrative work. This means that staff no longer need to re-enter information or upload documents manually. With the time saved, their role now focuses on tasks that add value, like supporting applicants in preparing for their appointments.

It has also improved data quality by ensuring that information is transferred exactly as applicants provided it, reducing the risk of errors caused by retyping names, phone numbers, or other details. Records in NEC are now more up to date, even during periods of high demand, where it could have taken up to a week for data to be moved over.

Although Lambeth is still refining some areas, such as automated duplicate detection, Clare noted that “we’ve made 80% of it better”, with clear plans for further improvements.

Advice for other councils

Looking back, Clare’s advice to other local authorities considering a similar integration is clear. “I’d say it’s definitely worth it,” she said. Her main recommendation is to move quickly, maintain momentum, and make decisions early, particularly around priorities and resourcing, to avoid projects dragging on longer than necessary.

Summing up the experience, Clare described working with Lightning Reach as “refreshing”, highlighting the team’s practical, problem solving mindset and willingness to work collaboratively to find solutions.

“It’s nice to work with an organisation that has that can-do approach, like, ‘how can we help with that?’ and for things to happen quickly.” says Clare, “Knowing that you can come into a conversation with Lightning Reach and focus on solving the problem makes a real difference.”

Interested in seeing how Lightning Reach can work with your organisation? Get in touch at partnerships@lightningreach.org