Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance has launched a service to help SMEs in the education sector guard against bad debts, as insolvencies are forecast to reach record highs.

Debtor Insurance protects a firm's sales ledger by insuring up to 90 per cent of any bad debts, both in the UK and internationally, suffered as a result of customer insolvency or the non-payment of invoices.

A new prepaid card for the education sector, launched by multi award winning Prepaid Card and digital payments company White Eagle effectively acts as a ‘Pay As You Go' bank account for students.

Back in 2000, the Department of Children, Schools and Families (then DfEE) published official guidelines for schools on the teaching of personal finance, but implementation has been sporadic. The recent economic downturn and media pressure to provide long-term solutions to the problems, have forced the government to examine the provision of personal finance education more closely and raise its profile in the UK curriculum.