THE Eagle has landed, but for how long? The new pensions minister, Angela Eagle, is the 11th since 1997 and, along with new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Yvette Cooper, part of the 15th ministerial team at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in just 12 years.
Eagle succeeds Rosie Winterton, who managed to get eight months under her belt before being moved on. Hers wasn't the shortest stint, however. John Denham kept the pensions brief for barely six months in 1998, while his successor, Stephen Timms staye
d for seven months, although he returned for a longer spell in 2005.
Does this offer us a clue as to where pensions lie in the government's priorities? This is a role that affects more people more directly than virtually any other ministerial post, and one that demands a genuine understanding of the subject, especially at a crucial time in the pensions reform process.
One look at Eagle's new in-tray, even after two pensions acts have been passed, is instructive. Rachel Vahey, head of pensions development at Aegon in Edinburgh, identified the impact of means-tested benefits on savings incentives as something that Eagle needs to look into soon.
The DWP recently published research suggesting most people benefit from saving (as opposed to relying on benefits) , but it's clear that the government has a lot more work to do to make the advantages of saving much clearer.
The issue is at the heart of the debate around personal accounts, the workplace auto-enrolment scheme being introduced in 2012. Another element of personal accounts for Eagle to consider is whether all employers will have to automatically enrol all of their staff from the outset of the new regime.
Vahey suggests that ministers could consider a less ambitious start, perhaps limiting the scheme initially to workers who have been at the company for a set length of time.
More importantly, according to Vahey, there needs to be a fresh look at how auto-enrolment will work in practice. For example, it needs to be made as easy as possible for employers to facilitate auto-enrolment, because it won't work unless companies are onside and engaged. One possibility is to provide a window in which people can decide if they want to opt out of a scheme before employers have started the necessary paperwork.
And that's just the stuff that's falling off the top of the overflowing pensions in-tray, with the personal accounts regime looming. Then, if Eagle doesn't spread her wings too soon, there are the wider issues to look at, from the private-public sector pensions schism and state pensions to the pension credit system ... and so on. It's a big task and one that needs some continuity.
IF YOU moved to a fixed-energy tariff when electricity and gas prices rocketed last year, your deal may well be ending soon. In most cases, that means moving to a standard tariff, typically the most expensive.
Comparison site uSwitch, which estimates that around 4.6 million UK households are on fixed energy plans, reckons the average energy bill could rise by around £100 a year for households moving back to standards tariffs from fixed rates.
The lowest energy prices tend to be for online and direct debit deals. Unless you've already done so – and provided you're not one of the many households trapped on prepayment meters at premium charges – moving to an online energy tariff could be a serious money saver. It's estimated that the best online deal is around £225 cheaper than the typical standard plan.
There have been indications that, since energy prices started trickling down (albeit without coming close to compensating for last year's increases), fewer people have been shopping around for better prices. But even if you have switched before, it's still worth seeing how much you can save by moving again. Comparison sites such as www.switchwithwhich.co.uk and www.theenergyshop.com are a good place to start.
• Jeff Salway is Regional Personal Finance Journalist of the Year
