Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke is to announce drastic cuts to the number of people who will be entitled to claim legal aid.

As part of a scheme to scale down the measures, which currently cost the taxpayer £2.1bn a year, the Secretary of State is set to announce that only those with total assets, including property, worth less than £1,000 will be able to claim legal aid. He will also announce that contributions from claimants will rise, from the current 20% to 30% of weekly income in a bid to ensure that legal aid will only go to those “who need it most”.

Last week the Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly, paved the way for the announcement by saying that legal aid should only go to those cases “of genuine legal concern or personal liberty or security”. The Ministry of Justice said: “We are developing proposals, not just with the aim of delivering an affordable scheme but one which is focused on those who most need it”.

Under the current rules, legal aid can be claimed for cases involving divorce, employment, medical negligence, immigration, welfare and school admissions cases as well as some others involving personal injury and consumers. However, that is all set to change with the aid being concentrated mainly on criminal cases and those wanting to take out civil action encouraged taking out private insurance.