• Licensing information

Over the past 18 months, more than 100 labour hire providers have lost the ability to trade lawfully when their licence expired before they submitted a renewal application.

Recent Labour Hire Authority (LHA) data shows many providers waiting until the final weeks before their licence expires to submit a renewal application, running the risk of delays or potential penalties.

Providers should apply to renew as early as possible — the process usually takes less than 30 minutes, and renewals can be submitted up to six months in advance.

LHA sends monthly renewal reminders to nominated officers and relevant persons from six months before the licence expiry date.

There are strong reasons to renew early:

• If your licence expires, you cannot advertise or provide labour hire services until a new licence is granted — substantial penalties apply.
• If your licence expires, you will need to complete a full application for a new licence — a much longer and more complex process than renewing your current licence.
• You may need to provide new information or documentation as part of the renewal process — some of these steps may take time.

Since September 2022, 121 providers submitted renewal applications after their labour hire licence had already expired. By law, these businesses were unable to advertise or provide labour hire services until their new licence applications were processed and granted — causing potentially significant business impacts, which could have been readily avoided.

How to renew

Nominated officers need to submit the renewal application, along with the relevant fee. Providers can confirm who their nominated officer is using the Register of Licensed Labour Hire Providers.

LHA sends out regular reminders to providers regarding their upcoming licence expiry via email and the LHLO Portal.

The notifications appear under ‘Notifications and alerts’ on the right-hand column of the LHLO Portal dashboard.

Read more about renewing a labour hire licence on the LHA website.

Make sure your details are up to date

By law, labour hire providers must advise LHA of any changes to a nominated officer or relevant person within 30 days. Before submitting a renewal application, providers should also ensure these details are current and correct.

Providers should check the details for the nominated officer and all relevant persons, and confirm all persons are correctly listed, with up-to-date contact details, and remain fit and proper persons as required by the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic).

Ensuring contact details are up to date (such as contact emails or mobile numbers) will help ensure important information from LHA — that may impact the status of your licence — is received promptly.

These details can easily be updated via the LHLO Portal or by contacting us via phone or email.