The Government's plans for unemployment insurance could be finalised within six months, according to Finance Minister Eugene Cox.

Speaking to members of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday morning, Mr. Cox went further on outlining plans for the safety-net for Bermuda's workers revealed in Friday's budget.

Mr. Cox told the gathered businessmen and women that it would be a contributory system that would help those who had been in work and became unemployed feel better about coming forward and asking for help.

And he said that unemployment benefit would be paid out to people who had been in work for between 20 and 26 weeks who had then been laid off from their jobs.

Discussing unemployment insurance in a talk with about 150 business leaders, he said: “I hope in the next six months we will be able to accomplish this, with your help of course.”

And he said that in Bermuda people had problems coming forward for social assistance, but may feel they have more right to an insurance policy.

He added that the cost of social assistance had been rising every year. The projected cost of social assistance for 2002-03 is $12.1 million, a rise of 11.4 percent on the $10.84 million for the year before.

In 1992-03 the estimate for social assistance was $4.513 million. In ten years the figure has more than doubled, rising nearly 2.7 times in just a decade.

But despite evidence to the contrary in the rising costs, Mr. Cox said Bermudians were unwilling to take social assistance.

Mr. Cox said: “One of the problems we have with financial assistance is that a lot of Bermudians will not go forward and use it, but they will call you and tell you all the hardships they face.”

Mr. Cox told the business community that he had proposed a bill for unemployment insurance while in opposition, but it had never got off the ground.

“We feel that a contributory system would work and people will feel free to go forward and ask for help after between say 20 and 26 weeks of work. But we will be discussing this with employers and employees. I do think that this is something we need to do and is a much better way to help the people rather than through social assistance... and that figure goes up every year.”

In the budget on Friday Mr. Cox announced $1 million was being set aside from the consolidated fund for seed money for the fund while a study is undertaken during the next 12 months to determine the best way of protecting workers from short-term job losses.

Still to be discussed are financing, participation, benefits, conditions for entitlement and administration, and no funds are to be paid out this fiscal year to unemployed.