New book argues care leave should be treated as a universal social right

A book cover featuring a family walking along a sandy beach

Care Leaves and Care Time for All: Towards Caring Democracies, Economies, and Worlds (Policy Press, 2026) draws on international research and policy analysis to make the case for a broader, more joined-up approach to care.

The new book is co-authored by Professor Andrea Doucet (Brock University in Canada) and Peter Moss, an Emeritus Professor at the UCL Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU), and published by Policy Press (an imprint of Bristol University Press).

Faced with a crisis of care across both families and services, its authors argue that paid care leave should not be limited to maternity, paternity and parental leave.

Instead, it should be more widely understood as time for all people to care for children, older relatives, themselves, their community and the environment. This means “making care – both receiving and giving care – equally and widely available to all”.

At a time when the UK government is reviewing leave for parents, the book calls for long-term thinking about care time and care leave – treating care as essential to society and the economy – and shows how this might be achieved in practice. It sets out a more coherent approach that combines paid care leave with services, workplace measures and financial support.

Professors Moss and Doucet do not suggest this can be achieved overnight. However, they emphasise that there needs to be much greater clarity about the direction of travel towards what they describe as a more caring democracy and a more caring economy.

The book will be published on 24 April 2026. A hybrid (online and in-person) launch event will be held at the UCL Institute of Education on 3 June from 14:00 to 15:30. The event will feature Professor Joan Tronto and economist Professor Emerita Nancy Folbre, with Professor Alison Koslowski (UCL) as moderator.

New book argues care leave should be treated as a universal social right

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