The Trusts partnership with Lightning Reach

As the cost of living continues to impact those on the lowest income the hardest, the Trust has partnered with support platform Lightning Reach in bid to help even more people.

Lightning Reach is a pioneering start-up which simplifies access to over 2,500 support schemes throughout Britain, including charitable grants, funding from local councils and help with bills. Since the Lightning Reach portal was launched, it has registered over 100,000 individuals and facilitated over £10m in grants and other funding to those in need.

In January 2024, the Trust and Lightning Reach partnered with the aim of addressing the challenges many face in identifying and accessing available support.

The Lightning Reach portal links eligible users to the Trust’s energy debt write-off grants. Trust applicants are then signposted to Lightning Reach to access further relevant support tailored to their circumstances.

Since the start of the partnership at the end of January 2024, c. 2000 Lightning Reach users have come through to the Trust’s grants pages, and over 250 people have accessed the Lightning Reach portal through the Trusts website. Of those who completed their profiles, 100% have been matched to support.

Of those who completed benefits checks through the Lightning Reach portal, over £11,800 has already been identified in extra income, a vital sum particularly for the 64% of applicants for whom benefits are their primary income.

On average, applicants are matched with more than 40 support schemes on both a local and national level, including the energy debt write-off grants available from the Trust.

Mr B’s story

Mr B and his wife are both registered disabled, and their income is formed of PIP, Universal Credit and a small private pension. After suffering two strokes and going through two failed surgeries, Mr B is now on a lot of medication for his pain and has had to stop working.

Both Mr B and his wife have complex medical conditions and need their heating on almost all year round.

Mr B’s balanced budget showed that he will be able to manage his energy costs moving forward, but that he was unable to clear the arrears on his account.

Mr B was awarded an energy grant from the Trust of £1,128.46.

To find out more about the support available from the Trust, please click here.

To access support through the Lightning Reach portal, please click here.