Candidates are never charged a fee. Not for applying, not for a CV review, not for interview preparation, not for visa or relocation help, not for placement. Clients pay us. If anyone asks you for money in AtherTalent's name, it is not us: tell us at faraz@athertalent.com.
1. About this statement
Section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires large commercial organisations to publish an annual statement on the steps they take to prevent slavery and human trafficking in their business and supply chains. AtherTalent is far below the size threshold and is not required to publish one. We publish this statement voluntarily, in the spirit of section 54, because we recruit across borders, build offshore teams, and our clients' procurement teams are right to ask.
This is our first statement. It covers AtherTalent's operations up to the date at the top of the page and will be reviewed and signed again every year.
2. Our business and supply chain
AtherTalent is a founder-led HR consulting and recruitment firm operated by Faraz Ather from Pakistan. We fill roles for clients in the US, UK, Gulf and elsewhere, run retained searches, provide fractional talent and HR leadership, deliver fixed-fee HR projects, and staff dedicated offshore seats: recruiters, healthcare and business support staff, and technology staff who work for clients from Pakistan.
Our supply chain is short: software providers for hosting, email, scheduling and candidate sourcing; occasional professional services; and, where a seat requires it, payroll, equipment and workspace arrangements in Pakistan. We do not currently use sub-agents or third-party recruiters to source candidates. If we ever do, section 7 applies to them.
Recruitment is a sector where abuse is common, particularly in cross-border hiring into the Gulf and in offshore staffing. The risks we watch for are fees charged to workers by intermediaries, retention of identity documents, offers that misdescribe the job, unpaid or late wages, and forced overtime.
3. No fees to candidates, ever
We follow the Employer Pays Principle: the full cost of recruitment is paid by the employer, never by the worker. We do not charge candidates for anything at any stage, and we do not accept payment from candidates for anything. Our terms of business require clients to charge seat staff nothing and to pay them nothing directly. Everything goes through us, on the record.
4. No retention of passports or identity documents
We never hold anyone's passport, national identity card, driving licence or original certificates. When we need to confirm identity, age or right to work, we look at the document on a call or receive a copy, record only what we need to record, and delete the copy when the law no longer requires us to keep it. No client, and no one working for us, may keep a worker's documents as a condition of a job, and no seat staff member's documents are held by us or by the client.
5. No debt bondage, deposits or deductions in offshore team builds
Nobody who joins a seat we run pays anything to get the job or to keep it: no deposit, no training fee, no equipment charge, no placement loan. We do not deduct recruitment costs, equipment costs or client fees from pay. Technology seats include an equipment stipend paid to the person, and it is not recovered from them. Anyone in a seat can resign with the notice in their contract and owes us nothing for leaving.
6. Fair contracts and on-time pay for seat staff
- Everyone in a seat has a written contract in a language they understand, stating the role, pay, hours, leave, notice period and the client they support.
- They are paid the full agreed amount, on time, every month. Late payment by a client is our problem, not theirs.
- Working hours follow the client's time zone by agreement and stay within the hours in the contract. Extra hours are agreed in advance and compensated.
- They keep their own documents, keep their own bank accounts, and can raise anything directly with the founder.
7. Supplier and sub-agent due diligence
Before we work with any supplier that touches workers, meaning a payroll provider, a workspace, an equipment supplier, or any recruiter or sub-agent, we ask them in writing to confirm that:
- no fees are charged to workers, at any point in the chain;
- no identity documents are retained;
- workers are paid on time, at or above the legal minimum;
- no one under 18 is employed;
- workers have a way to raise concerns.
We keep the confirmation on file, review it every year, and end the relationship if a breach is found and not fixed at once. Software providers are assessed for data protection rather than labour risk; the privacy policy covers them.
Clients are part of the chain too. Our terms require clients to treat introduced candidates and seat staff lawfully. If we learn that a client is charging workers, holding documents or withholding pay, we stop supplying and, where appropriate, report it.
8. Right-to-work and age verification
We confirm every candidate's right to work in the country of the role before an offer is finalised, using the process that country requires, and we confirm age at the same time. We do not source or place anyone under 18. For clients hiring in the US and UK we support their own statutory checks, the Form I-9 process in the US and Home Office right-to-work checks in the UK, rather than replacing them.
9. Raising a concern
Anyone can raise a concern: a candidate, a seat staff member, a client's employee, or someone working for a supplier. Email faraz@athertalent.com with "concern" in the subject line. You can write from an address that does not identify you if you prefer. The founder replies within 5 business days, investigates, and tells you the outcome. Nobody loses a placement, a seat or a future opportunity for raising a concern in good faith.
If the concern involves the founder personally, you can go directly to the client's HR team or to the authorities in the country concerned, including the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline in the UK and the National Human Trafficking Hotline in the US.
10. Training
The founder, whose background is on the about page, reviews this statement and the guidance behind it every year. Anyone who joins the firm, and anyone who leads a seat team, is briefed on this statement and on the warning signs of exploitation (fees, document retention, threats, restricted movement, unpaid wages) before they source, screen or manage anyone.
11. Measuring whether it works
We track the number of concerns raised and how quickly they were resolved, the supplier confirmations on file, whether every seat staff member was paid on time (the target is 100%), and any report of a fee requested in our name. We will report these numbers in each annual update to this statement.
12. Review and sign-off
This statement is reviewed and signed by the founder every year. This first version was published and signed on 8 September 2026. Its first scheduled review is 8 March 2027, six months after publication, and annually after that.
Faraz Ather
Founder, AtherTalent
Pakistan
8 September 2026