Veritau’s 2025/26 Annual Report
25 September 2026
We’re pleased to share Veritau’s Annual Report for 2025/26. This year’s report highlights what we’ve achieved over the last financial year, celebrating our service developments and achievements, showcasing the impact of our work, and reflecting on how we’ve continued to innovate and adapt in a changing landscape.
The report also marks a significant moment for Veritau as we celebrate Richard Smith, our Deputy Chief Executive, who retired in April after an impressive 19 years of service. We’re proud to include reflections from Richard’s colleagues, recognising the impact he has made on the organisation and the many contributions he made throughout his career with us.
In his introduction, Max Thomas, Chief Executive, summarises the report:
This year has been a period of consolidation following the successful restructure in 2024 although the business has also continued to grow. Leicester City Council transferred counter fraud services into Veritau Public Sector in October 2025, and Veritau Limited gained a number of new clients, including West Lancashire Borough Council. Middlesbrough Council also formally joined Veritau Public Sector in February 2026, meaning that Veritau Tees Valley has now ceased trading.
Councils, schools and charities have all signed up for services during the year. A number of suppliers to the education sector have also become clients, continuing a trend started a few years ago. Ad-hoc work was also requested by a number of other clients. The good news is that client satisfaction and retention rates have remained high.
Investment in new systems and technologies has also continued. This has included the implementation of a new data analytics system and the roll-out of various AI tools. This ongoing investment helps provide a good foundation to support future growth across all our services. We also retained our Investors in People and Good Business Charter accreditations.
In April 2026, our deputy chief executive, Richard Smith retired. Richard played a key role in the establishment of Veritau as an outsourced shared service and in the subsequent development of the business.
Service developments and achievements:
Service developments and achievements during the year have included:
Counter Fraud
- achieving high levels of savings from counter fraud work. Cashable savings for all clients totalled £825k whilst the total value of fraud and error detected was £680k
- processing 1,490 potential fraud referrals and completing 495 investigations during the year
- integrating the Leicester City Council counter fraud service and transferring six members of staff into Veritau
- creating and recruiting to a new intelligence officer role within the counter fraud team. The new role will provide compliance and other proactive services to clients
- representing our member councils at meetings with the Public Sector Fraud Authority and being vice-chair of the Yorkshire and Humberside Tenancy Fraud Forum (TFF)
Information Governance
- keeping up-to-date with the new Data Use and Access Act to ensure expert advice and support could be provided, working with clients to communicate relevant changes
Internal Audit
- realigning responsibilities within the internal audit service to improve client relationship management and efficiency
- implementing our new analytics software, Arbutus, and developing new ways to manage data analytics requests
- refreshing our internal audit trainee development programme and induction process to better support entry into the profession
- implementing our new audit finding categorisation system designed to support root cause identification and deliver client-focused insights
Company-wide
- receiving an apprenticeship employer award in recognition of our commitment to supporting apprentices, providing meaningful opportunities, and championing long‑term talent development across the organisation
- developing our use of AI and other tools to support service delivery and more efficient working
- completing a restructure of the senior leadership team
Download the PDF
Our 2025/26 Annual Report
Download or view the PDF of Veritau's 2025/26 Annual Report - alternatively view in the flipbook above
View Veritau’s annual reports from previous years on our about pages, where you can also find out more about the company.
About Veritau
Veritau is a local authority-owned shared service providing assurance services to a large and growing number of organisations across the country. Our main services include information governance, data protection, internal audit, counter fraud, whistleblowing, and risk management.
To discuss your organisation’s needs, please contact us.
