The government said it would also look into other areas that pose a risk to people who prepay for goods or services and need similar protections. Home improvements and weddings are two examples of great types of tickets where people often deliver significant amounts in advance. The move comes 16 years after the collapse of the Farepak Christmas Savings Club, which left some 100,000 customers without access to the cash they had set aside, and led to calls for better protection for users of these programs. The government said that with households facing rising costs, “now more than ever, the savings of hard-working families need to be protected.” Savings clubs allow shoppers to pay for goods and services in installments throughout the year instead of once, and are often used by low-income people. With many of the clubs, people are saving for Christmas. Users often receive coupons that can be spent at specific retail stores or through the club directory. However, unlike cash on current accounts and savings accounts, cash paid by people in commercial savings banks is not protected by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the official bailout program for collapsing financial corporate clients. This means that if a savings club goes out or loses customers’ money, they may not be able to get it back. The Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the proposed new laws to be outlined this week would mean that savings clubs must protect people’s cash by using insurance or a trust, so that even if the company collapses, the money will are still protected. Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk The law will apply to Christmas savings clubs and other prepaid programs that are forms of savings clubs. “This will prevent scandals like Farepak,” the department said. When Farepak collapsed in 2006, it owed about 37 37 million to some 100,000 consumers. They had saved an average of £ 400, although some had left four-digit amounts. Customers waited six years for payment and eventually got back about 50 pound on the pound, which came mainly from compensation funds set up to help those in difficulty. Some companies have Christmas savings clubs in the UK, with Park Christmas Savings claiming to be the largest. He said he had about 350,000 registered customers annually and that all prepayments were made on an independent trust.