Why 2020 is a fitting year to start research into the impact of benefit changes on larger families Over twenty years ago, in 1999, then Prime Minister Tony Blair made the historic commitment to abolish child poverty by 2020. This ambitious pledge changed the nature of the debate on poverty, leading to an apparent cross-party consensus on the issue: in 2006 David Cameron promised that his (more compassionate) Conservative Party would recognise and act on relative poverty. 2020 has suddenly arrived, and the policy context feels markedly different. Child poverty rates remain stubbornly high and are expected to grow further as reforms introduced by the 2015-2020 Conservative Government take full effect. Most notable here is the two-child limit, which means most child-related support within the benefits system are only available for the first two children in a household (with notable exemptions linked to multiple births, kinship care and instances of rape). The two-child lim