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The findings of a government-commissioned review into Christmas hamper saving schemes will today be published.

Government ministers are expected to announce new plans to protect consumers following the review which was launched after the Christmas savings club Farepak went into administration in October last year, causing some 150,000 families to lose funds amounting to around £40 million.

Brian Pomeroy, chair of the Financial Inclusion Taskforce, was asked by the Treasury to examine why consumers often choose to use hamper schemes and similar services instead of mainstream financial products to save money and to make recommendations to ensure that their savings needs are better met.

Commenting on the matter during a speech in London last November, economic secretary to the Treasury Ed Balls said that the collapse of Farepak "raised important wider issues about people's awareness of savings options and the methods by which people may prefer to save".

Reports suggest that consumer minister Ian McCartney is likely to accept the proposals put forward by the Pomeroy review, which are expected to include the recommendation that money collected by Christmas savings clubs is ringfenced for customers.

A report by Farepak's administrators earlier this year said that the company had failed to ringfence money provided by savers, with BDO Stoy Hayward predicting that customers were likely to receive just four to five pence back for every pound they had saved with the firm.

The collapse of Farepak, which went into administration along with parent company European Home Retail (EHR) after bankers rejected proposals to rescue the troubled business, is still the subject of a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) investigation.