§ 24. Mr. THOMASasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that, in connection with the employés of the Great Eastern Railway Company, there is formed what is called an accident fund, to which the employer and employé contribute, and that this fund practically means the contracting out of the Workmen's Compensation Act; and whether an insured member in receipt of a weekly allowance from this fund for an accident from which he is incapacitated from following his employment is entitled to sickness benefit from the State fund?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe provisions of Section 11 of the National Insurance Act with regard to the stoppage or reduction of sickness benefit apply expressly where any compensation or damages are due, either under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, or any scheme certified thereunder. The Great Eastern Railway Company has a certified scheme within the meaning of this Section. Both employers and employés contribute to it, but it is a condition of the grant of a certificate that the employés should receive benefits at least equivalent in value to their own contributions in addition to those to which they would have been entitled under the Workmen's Compensation Act.