That would be bad! If you lodge and pay for your renewal before your existing Queensland security provider licence expires, you can continue working while the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) processes the renewal. During that period, you must be able to produce your expired licence and your renewal payment receipt.

However, if you allow the licence to actually expire before applying, it cannot simply be renewed. You must apply for a new security provider licence, pay the applicable application fees and, importantly, you cannot perform licensed security work until you are properly licensed again. There is, however, one useful silver lining for experienced security providers. Section 11(2A) of the Security Providers Act 1993 provides that the approved training requirement is taken to be satisfied where OFT is satisfied that, within the 12 months before receiving the new licence application, you held a licence covering each of the security functions for which the new licence is sought. In practical terms, if your licence has only recently expired and you apply for the same functions within that 12-month window, you may not have to go back and complete the entire security qualification again simply because the licence expired.

But you still cannot work while unlicensed. The best advice is simple: don't let your security licence expire. Renew it before the expiry date, keep your receipt and keep working legally while OFT processes your renewal.