Private healthcare agencies in Quebec: rates, salaries and the end of agency use
Maximum rates billed by healthcare agencies, public network salaries, end dates for agency use by region and returning to the network.
Private healthcare agencies in Quebec bill at most $71.87 an hour for a nurse, $47.65 for a licensed practical nurse (nursing assistant in Quebec), $41.96 for a patient care attendant and $80.00 for a respiratory therapist. These caps come from the government regulation, which also ends the use of agencies region by region, until October 18, 2026. This text applies to women and men. It is not legal advice.
Agency and independent labour
The Règlement sur le recours aux services des agences de placement de personnel et à de la main-d'œuvre indépendante dans le domaine de la santé et des services sociaux defines both terms in section 2.
- A staffing agency rents out staff: it provides its employees to a provider to fill labour needs
- Independent labour (MOI) is a natural person who, without being a member of the provider's staff, provides a service to it under its direction or control
The provider is Santé Québec, an institution or another setting covered by the law. The agency is the employer: section 9 prohibits it from providing a person who is not bound to it by an employment contract. The provider pays the agency an hourly rate set in a written contract (section 18). The agency then pays a salary to its employee. Section 7 requires it to show on its invoice the normal hourly wage paid to each rented person.
Maximum hourly rates
Schedule I of the regulation sets the maximum hourly rate by job title. It is the amount billed by the agency to the provider. It is not the person's salary. The right column gives the scale for the same title in the public network since April 1, 2026, according to the nomenclature of September 15, 2026.
| Job title | Maximum rate billed by the agency | Hourly wage in the public network |
|---|---|---|
| Nurse, team leader nurse, assistant head nurse | $71.87 | Nurse: $29.61 to $47.48 |
| Clinical nurse, specialized clinical nurse, nurse practitioner, nursing consultant | $74.36 | Clinical nurse: $31.06 to $55.04 Nurse practitioner (IPS): $34.86 to $73.20 |
| Respiratory therapist, assistant head respiratory therapist | $80.00 | $29.12 to $45.20 |
| Licensed practical nurse, team leader licensed practical nurse | $47.65 | $27.78 to $37.08 |
| Patient care attendant, attendant in a northern institution | $41.96 | $29.40, single rate |
Sources: regulation, Schedule I, LégisQuébec version up to date as of June 1, 2026, consulted on October 10, 2026. Network salaries: job title nomenclature of September 15, 2026.
The detailed scales are in our articles on the salary of the nurse, the licensed practical nurse, the patient care attendant and the respiratory therapist.
Schedule I of the regulation also caps the rate for other titles, from the institution monitor ($41.23) to the psychologist ($80.28).
Three rules govern these caps:
- No increase for overtime for a title in Schedule I (section 19)
- An increase of 20% from October 20, 2025 to October 18, 2026 in the remote locations named in section 20, after an increase of 35% until October 19, 2025 (Schedule I)
- No cap in Nord-du-Québec, Nunavik and the territory of the CLSC Naskapi (section 18)
Section 21 prohibits any other payment: file opening, parking or meal fees, and billing for the orientation period.
The end of agency use, region by region
Section 33 of the regulation sets three deadlines.
| Use allowed until | Health regions |
|---|---|
| April 1, 2025 | Capitale-Nationale, Montreal, Chaudière-Appalaches, Laval, Montérégie |
| October 19, 2025 | Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Mauricie et Centre-du-Québec, Estrie, Lanaudière, Laurentides |
| October 18, 2026 | Bas-Saint-Laurent, Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Nord-du-Québec, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Nunavik |
Agency use remains allowed after October 18, 2026 for a few providers named in section 4, including family-type resources, palliative care homes and small residences of 15 units or fewer, as well as for staff who work exclusively in Nord-du-Québec or Nunavik (section 5). The details of the exceptions and penalties are in our article on staffing agencies and the law.
The scale, in official figures
The Minister of Health's brief to the Conseil des ministres, dated August 20, 2024, puts the use of agencies and independent labour in the network at about $1.5 billion for 2022-2023. The total reaches 23 million hours, including 17.8 million without security guards. Without security guards, the agency use rate is then 4.14%. It is 9.24% among patient care attendants, 5.34% among licensed practical nurses and 4.96% among nurses.
Santé Québec, Quebec's health agency, in a response to an access to information request dated June 2, 2026, gives the follow-up:
- Independent labour spending in 2024-2025: $758,768,789, including $417,498,129 for four titles (technical nurse, clinical nurse, licensed practical nurse, patient care attendant)
- Hours worked in the 14 day pay period ended November 4, 2023: 834,992
- Hours worked in the pay period ended April 18, 2026: 46,713, a drop of nearly 95% according to Santé Québec
Returning to the public network
Section 9 of the regulation prohibits an agency from providing a person who, less than a year earlier, was employed by a provider in the same health region or in a neighbouring region. The reverse path is open. Section 10 prohibits the agency from enforcing a non-compete clause against a person who wants to be hired by a provider.
For salary, article 8 of the FIQ collective agreement places the employee according to her previous experience: one year of work in the profession equals one year of experience, on written proof.
For seniority, letter of agreement no. 32 of the same agreement provides a single recognition process, within six months of joining Santé Québec. The employee hired since March 19, 2024 is credited with the time worked in network institutions for an agency or as independent labour, between March 13, 2020 and her hiring. This recognition has no retroactive effect. The letter ends on March 30, 2028. It applies to employees covered by the FIQ agreement. The other agreements were not checked for this article.
Positions are posted by institution: see where to apply as a nurse, licensed practical nurse or patient care attendant.
The CNESST licence and register
Section 92.5 of the Act respecting labour standards prohibits operating a staffing agency without a licence from the CNESST (Quebec's labour standards and workplace safety board), which publishes the register of licence holders. The protections of agency employees are described in our other article.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the average salary at a healthcare staffing agency?
No official source consulted publishes the average salary paid by agencies to their staff. The regulation caps the rate billed to the provider, not the salary. This cap ranges from $41.23 to $80.28 an hour depending on the job title in Schedule I.
How does a staffing agency work?
The agency hires the person under an employment contract and rents out their services to a provider, which directs the work. The provider pays the agency the hourly rate in the contract, and the agency pays the salary. The agency must hold a CNESST licence and civil liability insurance of $2,000,000, and have a police force check the criminal record of its staff (regulation, section 6).
Where can I find information on Santé Québec staffing agencies?
Santé Québec operates no staffing agency: it is the provider that rented this staff. The Québec.ca page Fin du recours aux services des agences de placement de personnel sums up the rules and deadlines. The text of the regulation is on LégisQuébec, and the register of licensed agencies is on the CNESST website.
What is an agency nurse's salary?
No official source consulted publishes it. The agency bills at most $71.87 an hour for a nurse and $74.36 for a clinical nurse, and the nurse's normal hourly wage appears on the invoice given to the provider. In the public network, the nurse earns from $29.61 to $47.48 an hour since April 1, 2026.
What is the new law on staffing agencies?
It is the Loi limitant le recours aux services d'une agence de placement de personnel et à de la main-d'œuvre indépendante dans le secteur de la santé et des services sociaux (2023, chapter 8), assented to on April 20, 2023. Its rule is found in section 668 of the Act respecting the governance of the health and social services system. The regulation under order in council 1485-2024 sets out the details, including the maximum rates and the deadlines by region.
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Sources
- Règlement sur le recours aux services des agences de placement de personnel et à de la main-d'œuvre indépendante dans le domaine de la santé et des services sociaux, chapter G-1.021, r. 2 (order in council 1485-2024), sections 2, 4 to 10, 18 to 21 and 33, Schedule I, LégisQuébec, up to date as of June 1, 2026, consulted on October 10, 2026
- Act respecting the governance of the health and social services system, section 668, LégisQuébec, up to date as of August 12, 2026
- Loi limitant le recours aux services d'une agence de placement de personnel et à de la main-d'œuvre indépendante dans le secteur de la santé et des services sociaux, 2023, chapter 8, Éditeur officiel du Québec, assented to on April 20, 2023
- Mémoire au Conseil des ministres, projet de second règlement sur le recours aux agences de placement de personnel et à de la main-d'œuvre indépendante, Minister of Health, section 9, August 20, 2024
- Réponse à la demande d'accès 26-SQ-0001-214, Santé Québec, June 2, 2026
- Fin du recours aux services des agences de placement de personnel dans le réseau de la santé et des services sociaux, Gouvernement du Québec, updated July 13, 2026
- CPNSSS and FIQ, Convention collective, version administrative, article 8 and letter of agreement no. 32, in force from December 15, 2024 to March 31, 2028
- Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, Nomenclature des titres d'emploi, des libellés, des taux et des échelles de salaire du réseau de la santé et des services sociaux, titles 2471, 1911, 1915, 2244, 3455 and 3480, September 15, 2026
- Act respecting labour standards, section 92.5, LégisQuébec, up to date as of August 12, 2026
- Registre des titulaires de permis d'agence, CNESST, consulted on October 10, 2026