The Government’s money advice service has pledged £30m to fund free debt advice across the country.

At a time when people are struggling to pay even the most basic household bills and unscrupulous loan companies are targeting vulnerable consumers, this latest move by the Money Advice Service (MAS) should be applauded.

And it couldn’t come soon enough. Going by recent statistics from the charity Credit Action, the UK is in the midst of a debt crisis with Brits struggling to pay back £166m of interest on personal debts every day.

Even scarier, every 17 minutes and 7 seconds a property is repossessed and every 5 minutes and 12 seconds someone is declared bankrupt or insolvent.

These figures reflect the financially tough times we’re in.

The price of pretty much everything is going up – running a household, driving a car, having a child, turning on the heating, buying a loaf of bread, all at a time when wages remain flat.

But what the Credit Action numbers also highlight is just how bad we are as a nation at budgeting and how good we are at getting into debt.

Debt management has become huge business in the UK but unfortunately many of these companies only provide a short-term fix to credit addicts who take out loans with massive interest rates and end up getting into a never ending cycle of debt.

The good news is regulators are taking action. They are, for example, clamping down on dodgy payday lenders which have recently been given 12 weeks to clean up their act or risk losing their license. Better late than never I guess.

But all these measures do is cure a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place, well at least not to the degree it does.

As a child, I can’t remember ever being taught about the importance of managing money. I do vividly remember, however, watching pretty horrifying videos of the dangers of getting too close to electricity pylons – and I can assure you I still wouldn’t go anywhere near one 20-odd years later.

But I don’t have a single recollection of being told that if I spend all my money on things I don’t need I won’t be able to afford the things I do need or if I borrow money from a bank, it will charge me for the privilege.

Luckily our children may be in slightly better position. Financial education is due to be introduced to the national curriculum for 11-16 year olds from September 2014 and the MAS has said it will work closely with the Department of Education ahead of the implementation date.

I just hope these important life lessons don’t go in one ear and out the other and they don’t end up being an extension of a maths class.

Children need to see real life examples of how people’s lives have been ruined by debt. ‘Scaring’ teenagers may sound extreme but it’s the only way the message will get through.