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Rate Adjustment Fund

ATTENTION: You may be eligible for Rate Adjustment Fund benefits if you receive or have received workers' compensation benefits due to a death or permanent and total disability. Please contact Cole Garrett, Deputy Counsel, if you have questions.

Purpose

The Rate Adjustment Fund (RAF) was created in 1975 to pay cost-of-living increases to individuals who are either permanently and totally disabled (PTD) or the survivors of fatally-injured workers.

Source: Illinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 820, Paragraph 305, Sections 7(a)-(e), 8(b)4.2, 8(e)18, 8(f)-(g)

RAF Assessments

Payment calculations and procedures

Payments to injured workers are made each month, beginning on the second July 15th after a final decision awarding permanent total disability or death benefits. A decision is final when there is no further appeal pending.

If you are eligible for a RAF payment, you need to keep a current address on file at the Commission. If you move, please email Cole D. Garrett at Cole.Garrett@illinois.gov or call (312)814-1606.

Recipients are given an amount equal to the percentage increase in the statewide average weekly wage, as calculated by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Payments can be calculated using the RAF calculation table (last updated 7/15/2020).

If you received a final PTD or fatal award more than two years ago but have yet not received RAF payments, fill out the application form for PTD or the application form for fatality, and mail it to:

Cole Garrett Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission

Cook County Office Building
69 W Washington Street
Suite 900
Chicago, IL 60602

RAF checks should be received between the 17th - 31st of each month. The IWCC processes payment vouchers on the 11th of every month. The process takes 3-4 business days and another 3-5 days to receive a check through the mail.

About half of RAF payments are made through direct deposit, in which payments are quicker and more secure. If you would like to set up direct deposit, call the Comptroller’s Office at 217-557-0930. The Comptroller will send a form to be completed and returned; that form will then go through bank verification. The entire process takes two weeks.

You can see if your RAF payment has been issued by entering your Social Security number on the Comptroller's website.

Audits and affidavits

Each year, we conduct audits to make sure payees remain eligible for RAF payments. Before July 15th, we send out affidavits to all payees. Payees must sign the affidavit, get it notarized, and return it to our office within 15 days of receipt.

In addition, we require payees to provide us with a copy of a current check stub from the employer or its workers' compensation insurance carrier as proof of continued eligibility for PTD or survivor's benefits. If the benefit is directly deposited, we will need a copy of the current notice of direct deposit.

Also, each month, we run a computer program against national databases to verify payee living status, and we periodically check payee addresses.

Termination of RAF payments

Payees remain eligible for RAF payments as long as they remain eligible for PTD or survivor's benefits. RAF payments cease when eligibility for PTD or survivor's benefits cease.