Apply for a Labour Hire Licence

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How do I apply for a licence?

You can apply for a labour hire licence through the LHLO portal (Labour Hire Licence Online portal). To apply for a licence, you will first need to create an LHLO account. You can access the LHLO portal at the top of any page of this website by selecting the yellow ‘LHLO SIGN-IN’ button.

Who should be the LHLO account holder and complete the application?

A nominated officer is required to be the LHLO account holder and complete the labour hire licence application. The nominated officer must be a natural person who is responsible for the day-to-day conducting of the labour hire business.

Read the following information before you create an LHLO account.

What information do I need to provide?

You can find a summary of the information and supporting documents you need to complete the application form in our application guides.

Applications will require a range of information including:

  • full name, address and date of birth of the applicant
  • if the applicant is a body corporate, the full name, address and date of birth of each officer of the body corporate
  • whether the applicant is registered with the Australian Taxation Office and WorkSafe Victoria
  • the number of workers supplied by the applicant to hosts during the 12-month period before the date of the application, and any information prescribed by the regulations in relation to those workers or, if the applicant is not yet but intends to conduct a labour hire business, then the number of workers the applicant expects to supply to hosts in the next 12 months
  • the industrial instruments that determine (or will determine) the terms and conditions of employment or engagement of those workers
  • whether those workers hold (or will hold) temporary work visas, and if so, the number of workers who hold such visas and the types of visas they hold
  • the industry or industries in relation to which the applicant is providing labour hire services and intends to provide labour hire services
  • whether there is an intention to provide transport or accommodation to the workers
  • whether any person relevantly connected to the application has or may have contravened a labour hire industry law, a workplace law or minimum accommodation standards.

Note: personal information about individuals is requested for purposes including to enable national police checks. For more details refer to the Labour Hire Authority Privacy Policy.

Fit and proper person test

The Labour Hire Authority (LHA) will conduct a 'fit and proper person' assessment for each relevant person included in an application.

A person or a body corporate will not be a fit and proper person under the LHL Act at the time the application is made if they have within the last:

If you are uncertain about meeting the fit and proper person test, you should seek legal advice.

An applicant will need to declare that, to their knowledge, they comply with:

Applicants who are not yet conducting a business that provides labour hire services will be required to declare that they have in place a plan to comply with the above laws and submit this to the Labour Hire Authority on request.

Accommodation and Transport

Applicants must tell LHA if any relevant person involved in the labour hire business intends to procure or provide accommodation or transport in connection with the labour hire service.

Applicants will also need to declare that:  

For more information about your obligations related to accommodation and transport, see:

Licence fees

Licence fees must be paid at application, annually and at licence renewal.

Please visit the Licence costs and fees page for more information.

What happens after I lodge my application?

Once your application is received, it will appear on the Received Labour Hire Application public register.

Within 14 days of notice of the application being published on the LHA website, an interested person may lodge an Objection against the application.

Once the 14-day objection period has ended, our licensing team will check your application to ensure that:

  • the application has been fully completed
  • all the declarations have been made
  • all supporting documentation has been provided
  • identity documents have been provided.

If our licensing officers require additional information from you, we will contact you for further information through the LHLO portal.

The information you provide may also be checked by our compliance and enforcement officers. We also work with Victorian, Commonwealth and interstate government agencies and regulators to run checks to improve the transparency and integrity of the labour hire industry and prevent the exploitation of labour hire workers by providers and hosts.

When your application has been assessed and a decision has been made, we will contact you and let you know the outcome to grant or refuse your application.

If your application is granted, you will:

  • receive SMS and email notifications to check your LHLO account
  • receive your licence certificate
  • be required to pay your annual licence fee.

If your application is successful, you will be granted a labour hire licence for up to three years. Licensed labour hire providers are required to report every 12 months on their labour hire activities for the previous 12 months. Please visit the Annual reporting page for more information.

If your application is refused:

  • you will receive SMS and email notifications to check your LHLO account
  • we will also advise you of the reasons for the decision and your rights of appeal.

How long does it take?

After the objection period has ended, we begin assessing the application. We aim to assess most applications within 60 calendar days, with the majority being determined by 90 calendar days.

Each application is unique and assessment times vary depending on a range of factors, such as:

  • The application missing information or requires further information 
  • The applicant not responding to requests for missing or further information by the required deadlines 
  • The applicant changing information in their application 
  • Objections being raised against an application resulting in further investigation being required. Note: From the day that an application is lodged, there is a 14-day period where an interested person can object to an application for a licence.
  • LHA receiving information about the applicant’s non-compliance with relevant laws 
  • LHA receiving intelligence from another Victorian, Commonwealth or Interstate agency about non-compliance by the applicant, or matters being identified from our existing intelligence
  • holdings which require further investigation. 

Applications that do not include all required information cannot be assessed and may be refused – whereas fully completed and accurate applications can be assessed more quickly.

What if my application is missing information?

If your application is incomplete, we will ask you to provide any missing information and documents. We will contact you for further information through the LHLO portal.

You should respond to requests for information as soon as possible to complete your application so that it can progress. Please check your LHLO account regularly for any correspondence LHA may have sent. Ensure you respond to requests for information as soon as possible to avoid delays with the progression of your application.

Applications that do not include all required information may be refused.

Can I provide labour hire services while my application is being assessed?

If you applied for a licence after midnight 30 June 2020 you cannot provide labour hire services without a licence.

Applicants must continue to comply with their legal obligations to obtain a licence.

Labour hire providers must not:

  • provide labour hire services unless they hold a labour hire licence that is in force
  • advertise or in any way hold out that they provide, or are willing to provide, labour hire services unless they hold a licence that is in force
  • enter into an arrangement for the provision of labour hire services unless the proposed provider of the labour hire service is the holder of a licence that is in force.
  • enter into a proposed arrangement with a supplier if the client has grounds to suspect that a proposed arrangement is for the purpose of avoiding or circumventing an obligation that would otherwise be imposed upon by the client, the supplier or another person by this Act.

Maximum penalties exceed $600,000, see our Provider page for further details.

Applications before 30 June 2020

Labour hire providers that applied before midnight 30 June 2020 can continue to provide labour hire services while their application is pending and there is no evidence of noncompliance.

  • This means that these labour hire providers that applied between from 30 October 2019 to 30 June 2020 can continue to operate while their application is being assessed – provided they are otherwise compliant with workplace laws.
  • If we find that the provider is noncompliant, we may take enforcement action against that provider. This can result in substantial penalties.

This is consistent with the guiding principles set out in LHA’s Compliance and Enforcement Policy and the key objective of protecting workers from exploitation, while operating as a fair and proportionate regulator.

For further information on this announcement, please click here.

Further resources

The information on this website is based on the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic.) (the LHL Act) and the Labour Hire Licensing Regulations 2018 (Vic.) (the LHL Regulations) and provides details of the labour hire licensing scheme.

See our Resources page for full details.

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