Oxfordshire workers who lost their pensions when their firm collapsed are in line for an early Christmas present.

Work and pensions secretary Peter Hain is expected to announce in the House of Commons later today that they will receive 90 per cent of the value of their pensions through a Government rescue package.

John Brooks, 69, of Westfield Road, Witney, said today: "We have been fighting for some years now, but on the face of it this is tremendous news, particularly if it is inflation linked. It is good news just before Christmas."

Mr Brooks is one of seven former workers at the town's Early's blanket factory which went out of business in 2002 and who are now over 65 years old.

There are another 120 who paid in to the company pension scheme but have not yet reached retirement age.

Mr Hain outlined some of the details on BBC Radio 4 this morning. The £2.9 billion package includes £1.7bn retrieved from failed pension schemes topped up with taxpayers' money.