About the Department
The Education Department of the Velocity Interoperability Network is responsible for training in Network standards and for the certification of individuals and organisations against those standards. It runs the foundation, operator and assessor programmes, sets and marks examinations, and maintains the registers of certified persons and organisations.
The Department was established on 6 September 2026. Its purpose is to ensure that a certificate means the same thing throughout the Network: that a person certified as an operator by one member organisation can be trusted by another to run a certified system, and that a system declared conformant by one organisation will interoperate with those of the rest. Before the Department existed, each organisation made its own arrangements, and the Department's first task is to bring the holders of those arrangements onto one common footing by 30 June 2027.
The Department publishes the syllabus to which every programme is taught, the timetable of every examination sitting, the procedures by which its decisions may be questioned and the figures that describe its registers. Fees and application forms will be published as they are put in place, and no charge is made until then.
Key figures
- 3
- Training programmes
- 2
- Registers of certified persons and organisations
- 1,321
- Transitional entries across both registers at 6 September 2026
- 18
- Examination sittings timetabled between October 2026 and March 2027
Responsibilities
- Training
- Running the foundation, operator and assessor programmes, publishing the syllabus to which they and every approved provider teach, and delivering the assessor programme itself.
- Examinations
- Setting the written, practical and refresher papers, timetabling and supervising sittings, marking to a published scheme and issuing results.
- Certification
- Certifying individuals at the foundation, operator and assessor levels on examination, and organisations on assessment; renewing, suspending and withdrawing certification.
- The registers
- Keeping the register of certified persons and the register of certified organisations, answering enquiries about entries and correcting them.
- Approval of providers
- Approving, inspecting and monitoring the training providers that deliver the Department's programmes, and withdrawing approval where the conditions are not met.
- Transition
- Recognising certification issued by member organisations before the Department existed, and converting it to Department certification by 30 June 2027.
History
Before September 2026
Training and certification by member organisations
Each member organisation of the Network trained and certified its own staff against Network standards under arrangements of its own. There was no common syllabus, no common examination and no common register.
6 September 2026
Department established
The Department is formally established and given responsibility for training in Network standards and for certification against them.
6 September 2026
Website launched
The official website at education.gov.vin opens, carrying press releases, official statements and guidance on training and certification.
6 September 2026
Syllabus, timetable and transitional arrangements published
Edition 1 of the syllabus, the examination timetable to March 2027 and the arrangements for recognising existing certification are published. The registers open with 1,284 transitional entries for individuals and 37 for organisations, and transitional approval is granted to member organisations' training units.
19 October 2026
First examination sitting
The first foundation paper is sat, followed by the first operator paper on 20 October and the first refresher paper on 23 October.
31 March 2027
Inspection of transitional providers complete
Every training unit holding transitional approval will have been inspected and either granted full approval or given a period to remedy findings.
30 June 2027
End of the transitional period
Transitional entries that have not been converted lapse. From 1 July 2027 every entry on the registers is a full entry made by the Department.
To follow
Fees and publication of the registers
Fees for programmes, examinations, certification and approval will be published as they are set, and the registers will be made available on this site.
Enquiries
General enquiries may be sent to contact@education.gov.vin. Announcements are published in the Newsroom, and short answers to common questions are on the frequently asked questions page.