RAF Loss of Earnings Claims: What Compensation You Can Claim

If you’re injured in a road accident that was not solely your fault and your injury results in a loss of income, you can make a loss of earnings claim with South Africa’s Road Accident Fund (RAF). You can also claim other damages, such as medical expenses.

In this article, we outline:

• what a loss of earnings claim is
• who can claim for loss of earnings
• how much the RAF pays out for loss of earnings claims
• the time limit on claims
• other damages you can claim.

What are RAF loss of earnings claims?

Loss of earnings claims are made to the RAF for any income that you’ve lost or will lose in the future because of the injuries you suffered during a road accident.

If you haven’t been able to work and earn an income, or the amount you earn has dropped due to your injuries, you can make a RAF loss of earnings claim.

You and your attorney will have to prove causality. In order words, you’ll have to prove that the injury you sustained in a road accident is the direct cause of your loss of income.

Who can claim compensation for loss of earnings?

A claim for loss of earnings can be made by any road user who has been injured in an accident that wasn’t totally his or her fault.

This includes motor vehicle drivers and passengers, motorcycle drivers and passengers, cyclists and pedestrians.

How much does the RAF pay for loss of income?

The amount the RAF will pay for loss of income depends on your team’s ability to prove causality and your prior and future earning capacity.

Recent payouts for loss of earnings

In 2020, the RAF was ordered by the High Court to pay R1,597,672 in loss of earning capacity to a woman driver whose car hit an overturned vehicle on the R30 road between Bloemfontein and Brandfort in the Free State.

The woman, who worked as an income accountant at the time of the accident in 2018, suffered pain and injuries that would degenerate over time, restricting her ability to earn an income and forcing her to retire early.

In April 2022, the RAF was ordered to pay a motorcyclist a further R3,150,921 in loss of earnings after being left “functionally unemployable” following a collision with an unidentified car on the R45 in Franschhoek, near Cape Town, in April 2015. In 2019, the RAF had been ordered to make an interim payment of R471,732 in respect of loss of earnings.

The man, 51, suffered multiple fractures and was left with a permanent limp and cognitive impairment. A qualified mechanical engineer, he had worked as a self-employed construction and mobility builder, as well as being a carer for his partner.

In October 2021, a passenger, who was 33 at the time, was awarded R1,011,659 in past and future loss of earnings after sustaining numerous fractures and a permanent brain injury in a road accident. The car he was travelling in collided with a truck on the Old South Coast Road, south of Durban, in 2018.

The man, from Ethiopia, worked in a tuckshop at the time of the accident. He spent two months in hospital, had to use a walker for two months and crutches for a further two months.

In October 2021, the RAF was ordered to pay R3,689,732 in future loss of earnings to a minor, 16. The boy was a 10-year-old pedestrian when he was knocked over by a car while crossing the road at a set of traffic lights in Parktown, Johannesburg.

Both the boy’s legs were broken, he spent two months in hospital and suffered trauma following the accident. He continues to experience severe pain in his legs.

Average RAF payouts for loss of earnings

According to the most recently published RAF Annual Report, the average loss of earnings claim was R1,050,476 for 2022/2023.

RAF cap on compensation for loss of earnings

Since 2008, a cap has been set on the amount that may be claimed for loss of income. Originally set at R160,000 a year, this amount is revised quarterly to account for inflation.

The most current cap is published in a Government Gazette (scroll down to the section with the most recent entries).

Time limit on RAF claims

If you know the identity of the person who caused (or partially caused) the accident, there is a time limit, or prescription period, of three years from the date of the road accident by which you or your attorney must lodge a loss of earnings claim.

If the driver is unknown, the claim must be made within two years of the accident.

A minor has three years from the age of 18 within which to lodge a claim, save in the case of a so-called “hit and run” claim, where the limit remains 2 years.

Other types of damages you can claim from the RAF

Road accident victims can claim RAF compensation for past and future medical expenses arising directly from road accidents.

Those who sustain injuries that qualify legally as “serious” can claim general damages for pain and suffering.

If a close family member or breadwinner is killed in an accident that wasn’t solely his or her fault, a dependant can also claim compensation for loss of support and limited funeral costs.