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Disability and aged care

Labour hire, and what the licence actually means

A labour hire company supplies workers who remain its employees while working for a host. Queensland, Victoria and South Australia licence labour hire; Western Australia licenses employment agents under separate legislation; four states have no scheme. Ready & Cleared is not licensed as an employment agent in WA, so it charges nobody anything today.

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Key facts

What this costs, against what the market charges

Almost no agency publishes a placement fee. The number below is the published vendor benchmark for Australian permanent placement, and beside it is ours, which is simply the price.

Benchmark figures as published by vendor sources and recorded in our brief; our own figures are the current published price. Checked 2026-10-25.
Way of buying Typical market Ready & Cleared
Permanent placement $7,700 to $11,550 12–18% of a $64,200 salary $3,900 flat, published
Casual or temp placement An hourly margin rarely published $1,900 flat, published
Ongoing access Not usually offered fees are per placement $390 a month unlimited introductions
Cost to the worker $0 $0

On the benchmark figures that is a difference of $3,800 to $7,650 on a single permanent placement. The percentage band is a vendor benchmark rather than a regulated rate, so treat it as indicative. Our own figure is not indicative; it is published and it is the price.

What a support worker has to hold

These are the credentials the roles on this page require. We hold the document, record what it says, and track the expiry. Where a public register exists we confirm against it; where one does not, we say so rather than implying a check we did not make.

Exactly what each of those words means, including the ones we cannot verify.

Roles this covers

Rates shown are the SCHADS minimum from 1 July 2026. Where no rate is shown we have not verified one.

Why the pool is not just a list

Every worker is asked every 14 days whether they are still looking, and drops out of the pool at 28 days if they do not answer. That is the whole product. A database nobody maintains is the thing you already have.

What we will never do is tell you somebody is suitable. We have not met them. You get dated facts and the documents behind them, and you make the call.

Common questions

Which Australian states require a labour hire licence?

Queensland, Victoria and South Australia run labour hire licensing schemes. Western Australia licenses employment agents under separate and older legislation. New South Wales, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory have no scheme.

How do I check whether a provider is licensed?

Search the state register, and search the ABN rather than the trading name. Registers list the legal entity holding the licence, which is frequently not the name on the website or the invoice. An empty result usually means the wrong search term, not wrongdoing.

Are you licensed?

Not yet. We are not licensed as an employment agent in Western Australia, which is why we charge nobody anything at present. We would rather say that plainly than let you find out later.

Wondering what everyone else charges? What recruitment agencies charge in Australia sets out the band, what it costs at each salary, and the one published figure that beats ours.

Hiring something else

What it costs, in full

Figures on this page were checked on 2026-10-25. Where a figure is a vendor benchmark rather than ours, it says so beside the number.