DORSET homeowners could get an affordable safety net if they get into difficulties with their mortgage payments.

This year there could be as many as 45,000 repossessions according to The Council of Mortgage Lenders and whilst many homeowners take out insurance to meet mortgage payments if they become unemployed or ill the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's new scheme would be cheaper.

The social policy research and development charity's proposed Sustainable Home Ownership Partnership (SHOP) would be run as a partnership between the government, lenders and borrowers and would cover total mortgage repayments for 10 months if homeowners were unable to work due to sickness or an accident or if they were unemployed.

Homeowners are currently poorly protected against any loss of income, with less than one in five having any form of private insurance.

The state safety net has been restricted since 1995 and most homeowners now have to wait for nine months before they qualify for state help.

The group said SHOP would cost around £3.40 per month for every £100 of mortgage repayments people paid.

It said borrowers would pay 50 per cent of this cost, with lenders and the government both contributing 25 per cent.

As a result it said a homeowner with mortgage repayments of £500 a month would pay £8.50 a month into the scheme.

If the scheme is adopted it would be compulsory for all new borrowers and people remortgaging, meaning coverage would initially be limited.

The foundation, which works in partnership with all sectors, said the scheme would replace the current government safety net of Income Support for Mortgage Interest.

It would also provide an incentive for lenders to lend more responsibly, as they would have to contribute more to the fund if their repossession rates were higher than average.

Mortgage adviser at Bournemouth's Cameron-Hemley Ltd, Peter Tait, said: "This scheme is certainly cheaper than what is currently available but 10 months is a short period. We prefer such policies to run for two years simply because you can't determine how long sickness will last. These plans are difficult to sell so 10 months might make it easier.

"If such a policy is targeted at first time buyers, they are budget driven, so will still have little capacity to take on such a scheme.

"I'm always keen to look at new initiatives but this won't make much difference in the market place."