About the Postal Service
The Postal Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network is responsible for the collection, sorting and delivery of letters and parcels across the Velocity Interoperability Network. It operates post offices and counters at the principal sites, maintains the Network postcode scheme, sets the tariff for mail posted within the Network and publishes the delivery standards it undertakes to meet.
The Service was established on 6 September 2026. Its twelve post offices and counters open on Monday 7 September 2026, when the first collections are made under the single tariff; their locations and opening hours are set out on the Finding a Post Office page. Before establishment, mail within the Network was carried by the internal messenger arrangements of member organisations, each with its own charges and none reaching every site. The Service replaces those arrangements with one network, one tariff and one set of standards.
The Service at establishment. The figures below record the network the Service operates from 7 September 2026.
- 12
- Post offices and counters at the six principal sites of the Network
- 84
- Post boxes, emptied at least once each working day
- 9,800
- Delivery points served in six postcode districts
- 142
- Staff at establishment, including 76 in delivery and 31 at counters
Organisation. The Service is organised in four divisions. The Operations Division runs the two sorting offices, the 38 delivery rounds and the collection of post boxes. The Counters Division runs the post offices and counters and the holding of items for collection. The Business Services Division manages account customers, bulk mail and post office boxes. The Standards and Statistics Division sets the delivery standards, measures performance against them and publishes the Service's statistics. The postcode scheme is maintained by the Standards and Statistics Division on behalf of the whole Service.
Responsibilities. The Service's work falls into six areas.
- Collection, sorting and delivery
- Collection of mail from 84 post boxes and twelve post offices and counters, sorting at the Central Exchange and Westbrook sorting offices, and delivery to 9,800 delivery points in six postcode districts.
- Post offices and counters
- Six post offices and six counters at the principal sites of the Network, open from Monday 7 September 2026, where postage is sold, items are accepted and held, and additional services are arranged.
- The tariff
- A single scale of prices for letters, large letters and parcels at the ordinary and priority rates, reviewed annually and published with at least one month's notice of any change.
- The postcode scheme
- The Network postcode scheme of six districts and eighteen sectors, maintained by the Service and used for sorting, delivery and the addressing of official correspondence.
- Services to member organisations
- Account posting, bulk mail, franking, post office boxes and business counters for the organisations that make up the Network.
- Standards and reporting
- Published delivery standards for every rate, quarterly reports of performance against them, and statistics on the volume of mail handled and the reach of the network.
For the Service's origins and the milestones since its establishment, see History; for answers to common questions, see the frequently asked questions. General enquiries may be sent to contact@postal.gov.vin.