Charlotte has been with Veritau for two and a half years after graduating from York St John University with a degree in Tourism Management and Marketing.

Initially, she thought her degree subject would be too different from auditing to have a role in the area, but realised that the skills gained during university are more important than the subject itself. Charlotte always enjoyed research and writing, and often uses these skills in her day-to-day work.

Internal audit is a very diverse and interesting area to work in. Not only do the audit areas change, but so do the clients. An audit covering the same area at one client may be very different to an audit at another client due to a range of factors such as the organisation’s environment, size and structure.

At Veritau, we cover a wide range of clients such as local government, national park authorities, and schools and academies. Charlotte has completed audits at all of these clients which has made for a very varied workload.

“This quickly developed my confidence in carrying out audits and the balance between being well-supported and completing work independently was the right one. My first audit also sparked my interest in adult social care and I have completed a number of audits in this area since.”

The Trainee Development Programme has given Charlotte a good indication as to which aspects she needed more experience in as well as providing a space to document her achievements.

After graduating with a degree in psychology, Ellie was looking for a career that would challenge her. Training as an investigator keeps things interesting as every day is different. She manages her own case load with a wide range of fraud types.

The trainee programme takes two years and includes completing the Professional Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist qualification.

There are four modules in which trainees learn everything from how fraud can affect organisations to how to take a case to court and be cross-examined by a barrister. Prosecutions aren’t the outcome of every case, but investigators need to be prepared.

Investigators gather information from many sources including relevant council systems, each used by their department staff in subtly different ways.

Trainees need to quickly generate a comprehensive working knowledge of a rather complex area of local government and legislation, understanding the challenges facing departments.

Each trainee is assigned to a senior fraud investigator from their first day at Veritau, who works closely with them throughout their time on the training programme.

Ellie’s favourite part of the job is the variety of tasks. Trainees can be involved with every stage of an investigation, from doing initial checks on a case to preparing it for prosecution.

Our trainee programme encourages investigators to learn to adapt to different circumstances and understand different areas of fraud in their entirety to deliver coherent, decisive and fair action.

Trainees are trusted with a lot of responsibility, but work closely with their senior officer and are supported by the whole fraud team.

After two years as a trainee, Ellie progressed to the role of Corporate Fraud Investigator and is a Professional Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist.

Katie started with Veritau as a trainee in 2015, and has progressed to the role of Senior Internal Auditor.

She graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in history and was looking for a graduate role with on-the-job training which allowed her to use research, writing and analytical skills.

As a trainee, Katie says she was given a lot of independence and responsibility from the beginning, but support was always available where needed from senior members of the team.

She completed her Certified Internal Auditor qualification from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, which involved three exams over the two year period, and has now progressed to be a Senior Internal Auditor.

Katie enjoys the variety of working with a range of clients from different areas of expertise and the ability to work on a range of different audits on different subject matters, developing areas of interest and specialism.

Some audits are very challenging but they also bring reward in being able to make a real difference by helping to make improvements.

The company has expanded during the time that Katie has been here in terms of team size, services that we provide and also our client base. Working for Veritau has given Katie the opportunity to meet people from different areas of expertise through the wide range of clients that we provide services for.

Katie has had the chance to visit several out-of-area clients such as national park authorities, involving an intense but engaging week of work.

Callum joined Veritau in 2020 as a Trainee Information Governance Officer, after graduating with a Human Geography degree from York St John University.

“During my degree, I became interested in working in the public sector. I was attracted to Veritau as they provide the opportunity to train for a professional career in this area.

As a trainee, my caseload allows me to interact with a diverse range of public sector bodies every week.”

“Prior to joining Veritau, I didn’t have any specific knowledge in the field of data protection or information governance.

However I had developed a strong skill set throughout my degree which I continue to develop and apply to my work as a trainee. This includes things like research, writing, and analytical skills.

I also continue to draw upon the presentation skills I developed at university which I now use to deliver data protection workshops to schools and academies, and local government clients.”

Callum says trainees are given a good amount of responsibility and independence to manage their own workload.

“In this role, you work very closely with data protection legislation and so you need to continue to grow your working knowledge of the law and apply this to your work with clients.

Trainees lead on their own cases and projects meaning you see your cases through to the end as you work to achieve the desired outcome. Of course, experienced and senior officers are always around to support you!”

In addition to the training and development plan and professional qualifications, Veritau provides further opportunities for their trainees to grow.

Callum recently attended the Information Records Management Society (IRMS) conference in Glasgow.

“I was able to learn from some really interesting and insightful talks and workshops as well as time spent networking with industry professionals.”

“As a trainee, you will undertake various areas of information governance work – no two days are the same!

My favourite area of work is investigating personal data breaches. As a trainee, you carry out investigations, support clients to manage breaches to minimise impact and, depending on the severity of the incident, liaise with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

You will also help organisations to implement measures to prevent future reoccurrence. I have conducted a number of complex information security investigations for a variety of public sector clients.

Not only has this developed my knowledge and experience in this area but also my confidence to move from largely supported investigations to leading on my own cases independently.”