Labour broker and employment agency registration

Who must register, and why it matters

• Anyone providing employment services for gain. The Employment Services Act defines a private employment agency as any person who provides employment services for gain, and says those services include the functions of a temporary employment service. A recruitment agency and a labour broker are both covered; the certificate states which of the two the agency may do.
• Per branch, after an inspection. The Department registers each branch at its own physical address. Labour inspectors visit the premises to check Basic Conditions of Employment, health and safety, UIF and Compensation Fund compliance before adjudication. Target: 60 days from a complete application.
• No registration without it. Section 198(4F) of the Labour Relations Act: no person may perform the functions of a temporary employment service unless registered in terms of the applicable legislation, and being unregistered is no defence to any claim.
• The councils check. The private security, road freight and logistics, and metal and engineering bargaining councils bar their members from using a broker who cannot show the Department’s certificate with UIF, Compensation Fund and SARS proof. Supplying security officers also needs PSiRA business registration, because making guards available to another person is itself a security service under that Act.
• Your client is on the hook with you. Section 198(4) makes the broker and the client jointly and severally liable for any breach of a council agreement, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act or a sectoral determination, so clients now ask for the certificate before they sign.
• The rules that are already in force. No fee may be charged to a work seeker and nothing may be deducted from their pay for a placement; the client agreement must show the worker’s pay and your fee separately; original identity documents and certificates may not be kept. A worker earning below the earnings threshold who is placed with one client for more than three months becomes that client’s employee, as the Constitutional Court confirmed in 2018.

Plainly, where the law stands. The registration section of the Employment Services Act of 2014 has not yet been brought into force, so the Department registers agencies under the older Skills Development Act regulations in the meantime, with a certificate valid for two years. The Department, the Labour Relations Act and the bargaining councils all treat that certificate as required, and the Employment Services Act provides up to 24 months imprisonment for operating unregistered once its section is proclaimed. We will tell you if that changes.

What is included

Registration, R1 490 per branch.

• A written check first: whether what you do makes you an agency, a temporary employment service or both, which bargaining council covers your workers, and whether PSiRA or another regulator also applies
• The document pack assembled and checked against the Department’s list: CIPC certificate, SARS tax compliance status, Compensation Fund letter of good standing, UIF registration proof, police clearance for the owners, bargaining council certificate where one applies, certified identity documents and proof of the physical address
• Anything missing from that list arranged through the matching ProperSA service, with the registration held open until it is in
• The eServices profile created in the agency’s name under your written authority and the application captured section by section, with the Department’s reference number recorded, or the whole thing walked through with you in writing if you prefer to hold the login
• An inspection checklist for your premises: the employment contracts, payslips, UIF and Compensation Fund proof, the health and safety items and the notices the inspectors look for, with a fix list where you fall short
• The application followed through verification, inspection and adjudication, every return answered, and the certificate filed in your client portal with the renewal date diarised 60 days ahead
• A starter kit for day one: a client agreement clause that separates pay and fee as section 15 requires, work seeker terms that state no fees and no retention of documents, and a placement tracker that flags the three month line on every assignment

Renewal, R990 every two years. The renewal application lodged at least 60 days before the certificate expires, the document pack refreshed, the inspection prepared for again, and any change of address, owner or entity type dealt with first, because each of those needs a fresh application rather than a renewal.

What we do not do

• We do not attend the inspection. The inspectors see the premises and the records; we make sure both are ready.
• We do not register you with a bargaining council or PSiRA in this fee. Where one applies we quote it separately, or you order bargaining council registration or PSiRA business registration alongside.
• We do not promise the date. The Department’s target is 60 days and the inspection is the slow step; our part is lodged within two business days of your documents and chased until it is done.
• We do not run your payroll or your placements. The kit gives you the documents; the operation is yours.

How ordering works

1. Order online with the button below and pay securely by card or instant EFT (PayFast), or wait for the EFT invoice. One order per branch.
2. Complete the questionnaire in your client portal: the entity, the owners, the branch address, what you do and for which sectors. Upload the CIPC documents, identity documents and whatever of the list you already hold.
3. We check eligibility, assemble and verify the pack, arrange the police clearances and any missing registration, send you the inspection checklist, and capture the application under your authority.
4. We follow the Department through its 60 day process, answer every return, and file your certificate in your portal with the renewal diarised.

Not sure whether you are an agency or a labour broker, or which council covers you? Ask us first and you get a written answer within one business day.

What we will need from you

• CIPC registration documents for the company or close corporation, or your identity document if you trade in your own name.
• SARS tax compliance status PIN, or we obtain it through the tax clearance service.
• Compensation Fund letter of good standing and UIF registration proof. Not registered yet? COIDA registration and UIF registration come first, and we hold the file open.
• Police clearance certificates for the owners, members or directors. We arrange them; each person attends for fingerprints.
• Certified identity documents of every owner, partner, member or shareholder.
• The branch address with proof, and a description of the services you offer and the sectors you supply.
• Your bargaining council certificate if you already have one, or tell us the sector and we check whether a council applies.

Frequently asked questions

Usually ordered with it

• Letter of good standing, R690. Compulsory in the Department’s pack and every council’s proof list.
• Bargaining council registration, R690. Where a council covers the workers you supply.
• PSiRA business registration, R3 490. If you supply security officers.
• Employment contract, R490. The contract for the staff you place, written for a temporary employment service.