• Licensing information

Labour hire providers must be licensed before advertising their labour hire business or services.

It is unlawful for individuals or organisations without a labour hire licence to advertise labour hire services, or hold themselves out to be a labour hire provider.

This contravention can incur serious penalties under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic) – exceeding $35,000 for an individual and $145,000 for a corporation.

Before you begin to advertise or market your services to potential customers, your labour hire licence must be granted by LHA.

Any promotional material that states or implies that you are willing to provide labour hire services is considered advertising, and may include:

• television and radio adverts
• newspapers and other publications
• flyers in mailboxes of homes or businesses
• paid and organic posts on social media platforms
• an active website promoting services
• posting to online community message boards and pages.

This also applies if an application to renew a licence is not lodged before it expires. In this scenario, all advertising must cease until a new licence is granted. Learn more about renewing your licence early.

What you need to do

To avoid risking serious penalties, labour hire providers should:

• apply for a labour hire licence at least two months before you intend to start advertising your services, allowing time for the application to be processed
• not advertise labour hire services until your licence is granted
• submit your application to renew your licence ahead of its expiry – up to six months in advance
• if your licence status changes, ensure advertising ceases or is adjusted to reflect this licence status, including updating any websites or social media pages.