About the Support Service

The Support Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network is the first point of contact for members and users of the shared services of the Velocity Interoperability Network. It answers questions about access, connectivity and standards, and refers requests that it cannot resolve to the department or office responsible.

The Service does not operate the shared services, set the standards of the Network, admit organisations to membership or handle security incidents. Those are the work of the offices the Service refers to. What the Service does is make sure that every request is written down, given a reference number, acknowledged, and either answered or placed with the office that can answer it, within a published number of working days.

The Support Service was established on 6 September 2026. Requests may be submitted through the request form or by email to contact@support.gov.vin. Requests are acknowledged within two working days. The Service has no telephone line and no public counter.

Responsibilities. The Service's work falls into five areas.

Answering questions

Questions about access to shared services, connectivity and the interpretation of published guidance are answered by the Service where it can. Most access and connectivity requests are answered by the Service itself.

Referring requests

Matters for the Registry, the Standards Office, the Defence Department or any other office are passed on with a reference number within one working day, and the office concerned replies directly. The routing of each kind of enquiry is published.

Keeping the register

Every request is logged and given a reference number before anything else is done with it. The register is the Service's only record of its work and the source of every figure it publishes.

Working to published standards

The Service acknowledges every request within two working days and answers or refers it within a fixed number of working days for its category. Performance against each standard is published quarterly.

Supporting member administrators

The administrators appointed by member organisations grant and remove access for their own staff and are the first line of support within their organisations. The Service publishes guidance for them and acts where an organisation has no administrator.

The Service is headed by the Head of Service, who is answerable for its performance against the published standards and is the final stage of review for complaints about it. Its staff are organised into a registry team, which logs and acknowledges every request, a response team, which answers access and connectivity requests, and a referrals team, which places every other matter with the responsible office and follows it up. An administrator liaison answers the questions of member administrators.