Labour Hire Licensing: What We’re Seeing Across the Industry Right Now
Business Monitor’s Labour Hire Supported Services have been running at full speed since late November — festive season or not — and the trends emerging are worth sharing.
Compliance awareness is rising fast.
Labour hire licence holders are checking in proactively to make sure their management systems are complete and up to date. Over the past few months, I’ve built robust Document Registers and developed more than 600 company‑specific resources to help clients close gaps in policies, procedures, and operational tools.
It’s genuinely energising to work with businesses who are committed to getting it right.
Licensing activity has been strong across Queensland and Victoria.
We’ve supported both local and overseas clients through the licensing process, with turnaround times ranging from a record four weeks to more than six months.
The variation remains a mystery — but the volume and complexity of applications certainly play a role.
The most interesting trend of late has been regulator follow‑up letters.
Authorities are increasingly requesting additional detail across areas such as:
Criminal history and probity
Award classifications
Employee vs contractor arrangements
Portable long service leave
Identity verification
Financial viability especially start up funding
This isn’t a bad thing — it shows regulators are actively checking the integrity of applications and ensuring compliance across the full spectrum of obligations.
But here’s where things can go wrong.
If a business changes its nominated contact and doesn’t update the regulator, portal access can be lost, and critical messages go unread. Recently, this has led to:
🔺 Licence suspension (resolved)
🔺 Licence cancellation
🔺 Record‑keeping audits
🔺 Licence restrictions requiring quarterly reporting
🔺 Fines for trading while unlicensed during the application process
All completely avoidable with accurate contact details and regular portal checks.
If your organisation needs support with preparing a labour hire license application, compliance documentation, or responding to regulator requests or just wants to do a health check, now is the time to get ahead.
Business Monitor is well placed to assist any business navigating this space so contact us to find out how we can help.