But it hasn’t exactly set the world alight.

Since the scheme was launched more than two years ago, only 1.5m pensions have been sold.

And while 350,000 employers have obeyed the law and set up stakeholders, 82% of them still have no members.

On the face of it, these figures show that many people just aren’t interested in pension planning.

But look at it another way.

If people had taken out stakeholders at the outset, they’d have found their investments falling.

That’s because most pension funds are invested in the stock market, and we all know

Pension investments have been hit by falling markets

how badly that has performed in the past couple of years.

So perhaps it was a good move to keep away from the scheme - and now the time might be right to start thinking again about a pension.

“There’s been a lot happening over the past couple of years that would have left investors unsure of what to do,” says Kerry Nelson of Onevoice financial advisers.

“Now, as markets start to strengthen, it would be a good time to review the decisions made several years ago.”

So why was it thought stakeholders would seem an attractive proposition?

Well, there are certainly benefits:

You can move your pension around if you wish.

But one complaint has been that few employers make contributions to their schemes - the latest figures show only 13% of companies chip in.

The government wants workers to save for retirement

However, David Bishop from the Federation of Small Businesses says they shouldn’t shoulder the blame.

“All employers already contribute for their staff in terms of compulsory National Insurance contributions and those went up by 8% in this year alone,” he points out.

The insurance industry wants help to boost the take-up of the stakeholder products it sells.

It says more should be done to make companies promote their schemes.

It’s also calling for a tax break to enable employers to pay for financial advice for their staff.