  An extensive sensor testing campaign is presented, dedicated to measuring the
charge collection properties of prototype candidates for the Vertex Locator
(VELO) detector for the upgraded LHCb experiment. The charge collection is
measured with sensors exposed to fluences of up to $8 \times
10^{15}~1~\mathrm{\,Me\kern -0.1em V}~ \mathrm{ \,n_{eq}}~{\mathrm{
\,cm}}^{-2}$, as well as with nonirradiated prototypes. The results are
discussed, including the influence of different levels of irradiation and bias
voltage on the charge collection properties. Charge multiplication is observed
on some sensors that were nonuniformly irradiated with 24 GeV protons, to the
highest fluence levels. An analysis of the charge collection near the guard
ring region is also presented, revealing significant differences between the
sensor prototypes. All tested sensor variants succeed in collecting the minimum
required charge of 6000 electrons after the exposure to the maximum fluence.
