Sunderland's Home Improvement Agency: saving time while widening the scope of financial support

We spoke with Helen, a case manager who leads a team at Sunderland Care and Support’s Home Improvement Agency who work in partnership with Sunderland City Council, one of Lightning Reach’s partners. The team supports elderly and disabled residents to live independently in their own homes, a key part of which is looking for funding options for essential adaptations like level access showers, ramps and stair lifts.

Manual searching that slowed down financial support

To find financial support for their residents, the team used to rely on a directory of charities, dubbed “the big book”, bought every couple of years. This method was incredibly manual for the team, and the information they were using was often out of date within just a few months, as there was no way to know which organisations were still offering support or accepting applications. Helen and her team had to manually work through the book, pick out possible options, and then cross-check websites to make sure the support was still available. Even then, they often had to send off applications and wait weeks or months for a response, only to be told no.

It was slow, repetitive, and time-consuming work, taking valuable hours away from directly supporting residents.

“We had to mark time out of our diary to go through the book and have a look. It was quite a slow process and did take up quite a bit of our time.”

Easier for staff, better for residents

Helen first heard about the Lightning Reach portal during a call with Sunderland City Council. Through the council’s partnership with Lightning Reach, her team were given access, and they began using it to support their residents.

Since being set up, Lightning Reach has helped remove the guesswork from finding the right financial support. Rather than searching through lists of charities, they can now input a resident’s details and instantly see personalised options that are up to date and relevant to their situation.

The shift to Lightning Reach has been a simple one. Helen shared that her team adopted the portal quickly, finding it easy to use. It has helped them make quick progress and save valuable time when supporting residents. As they continue to explore what the portal can do, they are discovering new support options they wouldn’t have known about before, all in one place and tailored to the people they support every day.

“Lightning Reach is much easier to use than the big book. We’re really impressed with it so far. It saves time, it’s easier to use, and it’s already helped one of our clients in a way we wouldn’t have managed otherwise.”

A real outcome from using Lightning Reach

One of Helen’s standout experiences so far using Lightning Reach was supporting a former NHS nurse who needed essential home adaptations. She and her husband were means-tested and needed to raise hundreds of pounds to cover their share of the cost of these works.

During a home visit, Helen completed a Lightning Reach profile. They were matched to the NHS Pensions Trust - a charity Helen had not come across before - and, after submitting an application to the charity, received £350 paid directly into their account within an hour.

“I’ve been doing this for 16 years. I’ve never known it that quick ever. This means she’ll be able to stay in her home and regain a bit of normality.”

Looking ahead

For Sunderland Care and Support’s Home Improvement Agency, working in partnership with Sunderland City Council, the impact of Lightning Reach is clear. They have moved from time-intensive, manual grant searching to a faster and more targeted way of identifying financial support. This has widened the scope of help available and made it easier for them to support residents to remain independent in their own homes.

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Want to find out more about how Lightning Reach can help your organisation? Get in touch via www.lightningreach.org/partners