The Conservative Government led by Theresa May has made support for hard-up families – those “just about managing”, to use Mrs May’s famous expression – one of its key policy objectives. Yet this same Government seems blind to the harmful effects its policies may have on those same families. This week brought the implementation of the so-called “two-child policy”, which is designed to withdraw any entitlement to state child welfare payments from third or subsequent children. The Government’s own assessment of the impact of these measures says, absurdly, they will “increase financial resilience and support improved life chances for children.” As the Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) said in a briefing to the House of Lords when these changes were being debated, “we expect it will have precisely the opposite effect.”