Change your business address
If you're a full access user, you can update your business, registered, mailing and personal addresses within Online for Business and the Business banking app.
Palm Cove Society: giving survivors a new start in life
Palm Cove Society is a labour of love for a former midwife, who has dedicated her life to helping vulnerable adults and children escape from abuse, slavery and persecution, with support from Lloyds.
Read time: 3 mins Added: 13/02/26
No one to turn to
Yvonne Stocks loved her job as a midwife in Bradford, West Yorkshire, but it exposed her to a hidden world where women were trapped in abusive relationships and due to their circumstances often had no one they could reach out to for help.
She resolved that she couldn’t stand idly by while those women suffered, so she persuaded her husband Gerard to help her to act. In 2007 they incorporated Palm Cove Society (PCS), using a second mortgage on their home to lease two properties in the city. The aim was to address health, social, and community disadvantages and inequalities experienced by vulnerable women, while also providing safe, supported accommodation for young mothers needing to escape situations where they were at risk. Yvonne quickly recognised the same vulnerabilities in some men and PCS expanded to accommodate them too.
PCS today
The Community Interest Company doesn’t just provide emergency accommodation; it’s a full wrap-around service that can help people access counselling, education, employment and more – everything they need to take back control of their lives and reintegrate into their communities.
Over the years, the organisation has diversified to work with victims of human trafficking and modern slavery, individuals fleeing forced marriage or honour-based violence, asylum seekers and even individuals formally trapped in cults. Many of its most vulnerable service users don’t have English as a first language or have no recourse to public funds – so they are unable to access state benefits or other public services.
Yvonne Stocks Co-Founder and CEO, Palm Cove SocietyI was a registered midwife when I noticed that some of the women that I was interacting with had unusually challenging issues, and as I started to delve deeper, I realised there was a huge unmet need unfolding before me. I decided I'd set something up that would help. I worked out that I would need £30,000 to get my idea off the ground. I did a business plan. Eventually, I persuaded my husband to take a second charge against our home - I think he got fed up with me nagging!
PCS was set up as a Community Interest Company, which means any revenues generated must be re-invested into the business. For the first five years, the going was tough; Yvonne and Gerard worked 24/7, supporting service users while also cleaning and maintaining the accommodation. At the same time, Yvonne worked tirelessly trying to raise awareness of the challenges facing their vulnerable clients.
Let’s talk
A key milestone for Yvonne and PCS happened when she was introduced to Natalie Boswell, Regional Development Director at Lloyds in March 2023.
Yvonne says: “When I first met Natalie, the first thing she said was: ‘Come in and meet the team. Let's talk about what your needs are.’ They looked at our finances and helped us with everything from commercial accounts and overdrafts to advice and introductions to the local professional community. We can pick up the phone any time and speak to our account manager, and if they haven't got the answer, they’ll connect us with someone who does.”
Natalie Boswell Regional Development Director, LloydsYvonne and Gerard are very hands-on people, which is why they made the conscious decision not to be a charity but to be a Community Interest Company; so that they could continue to support the everyday functioning of the business. We take our responsibility to the communities that we serve very seriously and to have been able to play even a small part in the incredibly important work that Palm Cove Society does has been inspiring and enlightening.
Hidden in plain sight
Yvonne says the need for PCS’ help has remained stubbornly high, with vulnerable people being referred to them daily by partner agencies, and while it initially worked with large numbers of foreign nationals, she has seen increasing numbers of vulnerable British nationals seeking support.
She says: “We’ve had to battle against public perception, because it can be very difficult to get people to understand that crimes like modern slavery and county lines exist in the UK. But it’s hidden in plain sight, and it is shame and fear that stops victims reaching out for help. I see people who come to us, and they are absolutely broken. But I know in my heart of hearts that we are having a significant impact on so many lives, on so many levels.”
So, where does Yvonne see Palm Cove in 10-years-time? She says: “In an ideal world, there wouldn’t be a need for us to exist anymore, but realistically I’d like it to be a national organisation, and potentially even international, supporting as many vulnerable survivors as possible.”
You may also be interested in
All lending is subject to status. Eligibility criteria apply.