§ 70. Mr. BRIDGEMANasked the Secretary to the Treasury if, when a workman is in receipt of 10s. a week from his employer under the Workmen's Compensation Act on account of an accident, he is precluded from receiving sickness benefit under the National Insurance Act; and, if so, seeing that the employer has had to pay twice over for one benefit, whether, in the Act for amending the National Insurance Act, it is proposed to remedy this injustice?
Mr. ROBERTSONThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirma- 1174 tive. It is not, however, the case that either employers or employed contributors are paying twice over for one benefit. The relief to the funds in the cases referred to was a factor in the actuarial calculations, and if sickness benefit were allowed, in addition to payments under the Workmen's Compensation Act in respect of the same accident, the contributions would require to be increased. There would then be justification for complaints that payments were being made twice over, as there is no obvious reason why an insured person requires to receive more when the illness is due to accident than when it is due to other causes.