• Compliance & enforcement

Thirteen providers recently had to submit full applications for new licences after they failed to apply to renew their licence before it expired.

By law, these businesses were unable to advertise or provide labour hire services until their applications were processed and granted – causing potentially significant business impacts, which could have been readily avoided.

With close to 2000 licences due for renewal between now and June, this will be a busy period for the Labour Hire Authority (LHA) Licensing team, so we encourage providers to apply early.

As well as upgrading the LHLO Portal to streamline renewal applications, we’ve launched a new Renewals page with step-by-step instructions to support nominated officers through the process.

Once you have all the relevant information, the renewal application usually takes less than 30 minutes, and can be submitted up to six months before a licence expires.

There are strong reasons to apply early to renew:

• 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.
• You may need to provide new information or documentation as part of the renewal process – some of these steps may take time.

“Don’t leave it to the last week, submit your renewal application in advance to avoid any delays and impacts to your business” said Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner Steve Dargavel.

“Help us help you, and apply to renew as early as possible – you can submit your application up to six months before your licence expires.”

How to renew

Your nominated officer will need to submit the application. You can confirm who your 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 your LHLO account.

The notifications appear in your dashboard and will also come up under the ‘Notifications and alerts’ on the right-hand column of the dashboard.

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

Make sure your details are up to date

While you’re at it, be sure to check that your nominated officer and relevant person details remain up to date.

For body corporates, each officer of the body corporate is a relevant person and it must be noted as such on their licence.  

By law, providers must ensure LHA knows of any changes to your nominated officer, or if any relevant persons join or leave the business, within 30 days of the change occurring.

You must also inform us of changes to any relevant persons’ contact details, or if any relevant persons are no longer considered fit and proper (e.g. if a criminal conviction is recorded against them).

Penalties apply for licensees who do not inform LHA of these changes, and may result in compliance action being taken including licence suspension, imposing of condition(s) or cancellation. LHA may also take legal action in instances where a provider deliberately evades the law. Learn more about offences and penalties.

You can easily update these details via the LHLO Portal or by contacting us via phone or email.