1968–79: journalist and author

Coote left Edinburgh early with an Ordinary degree to work as a journalist at The Observer newspaper from 1968 to 1971. In 1971, she became staff writer on Ink, an alternative weekly newspaper founded by Richard Neville. At Ink, she covered the six-week-long Oz trial, in which Neville and his co-editors of the British underground magazine Oz were prosecuted on three charges, including obscenity.^[4] She then became a freelance journalist, contributing to the Evening Standard, The Guardian, The Sunday Times and other newspapers and magazines.

This period saw her involvement in civil rights, the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) and the emerging women's movement. She co-founded Women's Report, a weekly feminist newspaper, and co-authored two Penguin guides, to Civil Liberty in 1972 (ISBN 9780140522914) and Women's Rights in 1974 (ISBN 9780140523058).

1978–89: editor and campaigner

Coote was appointed Deputy Editor of the New Statesman from 1978 to 1982.^[5] In 1982, she published with Beatrix Campbell a history of women's liberation in the 1970s, an account of its achievements and failures and a strategy for the future.

In 1982, Coote and Tess Gill came to prominence in the El Vino case. They were the first to successfully challenge the policy of the El Vino wine bar in Fleet Street, London, of not serving women at the bar and instead requiring them to order by table service in a back room. Their legal action against El Vino was eventually heard in the Court of Appeal and upheld in November 1982. It was described by The Daily Telegraph as "one of the most celebrated and publicised sex discrimination proceedings" under the Sex Discrimination Act. In 2017, Coote and Gill attended a celebration at El Vino, now under new owners, for the 35th anniversary of the case.

Coote then turned to current affairs television as editor and producer of Diverse Productions from 1982 to 1986.^[6] Diverse was set up to pioneer programming on politics and current affairs to the new Channel 4 based on tough journalistic standards. Coote was producer and presenter on current affairs programmes The Friday Alternative and Diverse Reports. In 1987, she worked as columnist on the short-lived left-wing tabloid newspaper, News on Sunday.

1989–2008: director, commissioner, researcher

Since 1989, Coote has been prominent as a researcher, policy analyst and campaigner on a wide range of issues, including social policy, sustainable development, public health policy, public involvement and democratic dialogue, gender and equality. From 1989 to 1998, she was Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). From 1998 to 2004, she was Director of Health Policy at the King's Fund; and from 2005 to 2008, she led the Healthcare Commission's work on engaging patients and the public.

Her publications during this period covered a wide spread of topics, including the potential of citizens' juries, the politics of gender, social rights, and inequalities in health.

In 2000, Coote was appointed a member of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, which role she held until shortly before 2010, when the SDC was abolished by the incoming Coalition government in the "bonfire of quangos". With her brief as Commissioner for Health, she linked health issues with broader sustainable development concerns.

2008–2025: eco-social policy researcher and campaigner

In 2008, Coote joined the New Economics Foundation (NEF) as Head of Social Policy and later Principal Fellow.^[1] Her writings at this time included campaigns for upstream prevention in health ("health not hospitals"), a shorter working week, combining work and caring roles.^[7]

In 2012, Coote put forward the target of a 21-hour or three-day work week.^[8] The New Economics Foundation stated that this would provide a better work-life balance, would better balance work hours across the population and would help towards a more sustainable and less carbon-dependent economy.^[8]

In 2020, Coote with Andrew Percy authored The Case for Universal Basic Services.^[9] It initiated the campaign for universal basic services,^[10] as an alternative to Universal Basic Income,^[11] a debate that continues across Europe.^[12] In 2021, the campaign was renamed The Social Guarantee.^[13]

In 2023, she was invited to present this work at the Beyond Growth conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.^[14] This gathering of 2,000 people over three full days attracted diverse reactions: "Meet the lefty Europeans who want to shrink the economy" (The Economist)^[15] and "a milestone moment on the road to transformation" (Partners for a New Economy).^[16]