History of the Pension Service

The Pension Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution. The milestones below record its establishment and will be extended as the Service issues its first statements, pays its first pensions and the Scheme Board takes office.

1. Before September 2026

   Pensions provided by member organisations

   Before the Service existed, each member organisation of the Network made its own arrangements for the pensions of its staff. Thirty-one operated funded arrangements of their own, on differing terms; the remainder had none. Staff who moved between member organisations lost pension rights or carried them at a discount, and there was no common record of who was entitled to what.

2. 10 August to 5 September 2026

   The transition period

   In the four weeks before establishment, member organisations sent the Service their staff records, the records of their predecessor pension arrangements and the pensions those arrangements were paying. The rights of the 31 predecessor arrangements were transferred to the scheme in bulk, the contribution tiers and employer rate were settled on the advice of the scheme actuary, and 14,280 contributing member records were validated in readiness for establishment.

3. 6 September 2026

   Pension Service established

   The Pension Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established as administrator of the Network Pension Scheme, with responsibility for the record of every member, the collection of contributions, the calculation and payment of benefits and reporting on the membership and funding of the scheme.

4. 6 September 2026

   Official website launched

   The Service launched pensions.gov.vin, carrying press releases, the rules of the scheme, the contribution tiers, a description of the benefits, the retirement procedure and the Service's first statistical release.

5. 6 September 2026

   Rules, rates, retirement procedure and first statistics

   On the day of its establishment the Service published the scheme rules and the contribution rates for the scheme year 2026 to 2027, set out the six-step retirement procedure and opened applications, and published its first statistical release on the membership at establishment.

6. Forthcoming

   First payroll, opening statements, the Scheme Board and the first valuation

   The Service pays the 212 transferred pensions for the first time on 30 September 2026 and issues an opening statement to every member by 30 November 2026. Elections to the Scheme Board, the first quarterly statistical release in December 2026 and the first valuation of the scheme, as at 5 September 2027, will be announced in the Newsroom.

Announcements are published in the Newsroom. For the Service's present responsibilities, see About the Pension Service; for its reporting on the membership of the scheme, see Statistics.