§ Mr. RENDALLasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any proposal in the Insurance Bill will be the means of relieving any employer from payment of compensation to his employés under the Workmen's Compensation Acts or the Employers' Liability Act; whether the Insurance Bill provides that a workman shall not receive both compensation under these Acts and sickness benefit at the same time; and whether any expression of opinion on the result of this 1951W provision has been made by the actuaries advising either friendly societies or trade unions?
Mr. McKINNON WOODThe Insurance Bill does not relieve employers from any liability under the Workmen's Compensation Acts or the Employers' Liability Act; neither does it prohibit a workman from receiving both compensation from his employer and sickness benefit from his society, if he has contracted to pay for it. It does prohibit a workman from receiving benefit in return for his contribution under the Bill in cases of accident, where the amount of the compensation is more than the benefit. This prohibition was inserted in accordance with the advice of the eminent actuaries employed by the Government, and their advice has been endorsed by actuaries advising both trade unions and friendly societies and by very many other competent persons, and it is in accordance with the principle of equality upon which the Bill proceeds, for it would be unjust when all trades pay the same contribution to pay a greater amount in benefit to those trades in which accidents are most frequent.