WASHINGTON (AFP)--The man charged with doling out BP PLC's (BP.LN, BP) compensation to victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill said Sunday he is prepared to pay up to six months of expenses in advance, but getting people to file claims is a struggle. Kenneth Feinberg told CNN he wanted to provide "some degree of financial certainty," to people who have found their livelihoods hurt by the massive oil spill. "If they are eligible, we will give them up to six months emergency [compensation]." But, he lamented, "I can't help people if they don't file." Many of the fishermen and others who work in the U.S. region of the Gulf region regularly get paid in cash and do not have paperwork to back up their claims of lost income. They are also worried that if they ask for compensation, the government will seek taxes for previous income. "One of the big challenges is convincing people to file a claim," he said. Feinberg said people ask, "Are you going to be sending all of my information that I provide you to [tax officials]? I am not sure about what [are] your intentions." "No, no, no," Feinberg promised. "This is not easy to convince people that some new program will help them. It takes some work." Feinberg said that until oil stops gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, he could not estimate whether the initial $20 billion fund set up by BP would be enough to pay compensation claims. "Until the oil stops, you don't know how pervasive the oil spill will be," he said. "You don't know if somebody who has not been harmed at all today will be harmed by additional oil next week. Once the oil stops, I believe we will be able to, very quickly, to get sort of a handle" on the scope of the disaster on livelihoods in the region. Millions of barrels of oil have poured into the Gulf since a deepwater drilling rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers. It sank two days later, sending crude unchecked into the water ever since, unleashing the nation's worst ever environmental disaster. (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 11, 2010 13:05 ET (17:05 GMT)