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National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide

1. amp STATISTICS National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide A Product of ONS Geography Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Contents Page 1 Introduction 3 2 New information 4 3 Frequently asked questions 4 4 Postcode content 5 5 Currency of data 5 6 Gridlink general 6 7 Grid references 6 8 Assignment of postcodes to administrative and electoral areas and 7 other geographies held on the NSPD 9 Scottish input to the NSPD 7 10 PO Boxes and non geographic postcodes 8 11 Terminated postcodes 8 12 Postcode reorganisations 9 13 Strategic Health Authorities SHAs and Health Boards 9 14 Primary Care Organisations PCOs Local Health Boards LHBs 9 and Community Health Partnerships CHPs 15 1991 Census enumeration districts EDs 10 16 Census Output Areas OAs 10 16 1 Postcodes assigned to both English and Scottish COAs 11 16 2 OA classification 11 17 Lower and Middle Layer Super Output Areas SOAs amp Scottish data 11 and intermediate zones 18 Census Area Statistics CAS wards 12 18 1 Output Area CAS ward corrections in Milton Keynes 12 Monmouthshire and North Norfolk 19 Statistical wards 13 20 Local Education Authorities LEAs 13 21 Parliamentary Constituencies 13 22 European Electoral Regions EERs 14 23 Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics NUTS 14 24 NHS IT Clusters 15 25 Government Office Region
2. 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 3 Country The code for the appropriate country i e one of the four Look up from CTRY constituent countries of the United Kingdom or the L A District Channel Islands or the Isle of Man to which each E W amp S postcode is assigned and look up f from maoa Gt Ena pence N or 128 Isle of Man oem 152 Northern Ireland 179 Scotland 220 Wales 1 PO Box Shows whether or not a postcode is a PO Box and or GENIND non non geographic in which case the postcode would not geographic be expected to have associated areal data nelcater 0 3 or A 0 neither PO Box nor non geographic postcode 1 PO Box postcode 2 non geographic postcode 3 PO Box and non geographic postcode A unknown mostly terminated postcodes for which a postcode type cannot be identified 1 PAF indicator Shows whether the postcode has been received by ONS PAFIND on Royal Mail s monthly postcode input derived from the Postcode Address File PAF tora 1 postcode yet to appear on Royal Mail s Postcode Address File PAF A postcode obtained from PAF A7 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 1 Government The Government Office
3. e Postcodes existing at the 1991 Census whose EDs were assigned using information on the census forms These are mostly residential postcodes e Postcodes existing at the 1991 Census whose EDs could not be assigned using Census forms or postcodes introduced since the 1991 Census whose EDs have been assigned by point in polygon techniques These are a mix of residential and business postcodes Over time the use of the original methodology to assign EDs to postcodes caused inaccuracies for some allocations From February 2007 the common point in polygon methodology was introduced to allocate all postcodes to EDs bringing this geography in line with the majority on the NSPD The original postcode ED lookup is provided as part of the NSPD metadata Many postcodes existing at the 1991 Census straddled ED boundaries In such instances and where EDs have been assigned using information from census forms a single best fit ED is given in the lookup based on the ED with the largest number of households in that postcode All EDs on the NSPD use the postcode 1m grid reference to obtain an accurate assignment There are also a small proportion of postcodes for which it has not been possible to assign EDs This is because either there was insufficient information at the time of the 1991 Census or for newer postcodes because the postcode does not have a 1 metre grid reference EDs have not been assigned to postcodes in Scotland the Chann
4. A E Urban F H Rural or A Urban and rural classification of postcodes for Northern Ireland A pseudo code is included for England Wales Scotland Channel Islands and Isle of Man A Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area B Derry Urban Area C Large Town 18 000 and under 75 000 people D Medium Town 10 000 and under 18 000 people E Small Town 4 500 and under 10 000 people F Intermediate Settlement 2 250 and under 4 500 people G Village 1 000 and under 2 250 people H Small Village Hamlet or Open Countryside less than 1 000 people Z postcode in England Wales Scotland Channel Is loM pseudo A no information available Look up from COA code URINDNI Intermediate zone Scotland S02000001 S02001235 Z99999999 or AAAAAAAAA The geography above data zones for each postcode in Scotland with a minimum population of 2 500 6 000 There are 1235 intermediate zones A pseudo code is included for postcodes in England Wales Northern Ireland Channel Islands and Isle of Man 02000001 S02001235 intermediate zone in Scotland 299999999 postcode in England Wales NI Channel Is loM pseudo AAAAAAAAA no information available Input from GROS DZONE2 A27 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Fie
5. 99220099 99ZZ0099 Scotland Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAAAA AAAAAAAA no information available 6 1991 Census 1991 Census Same as above except a Census code is provided Point in CENED Enumeration code range polygon District ED AAFA01 UEFZ14 England amp Wales 2 digit district code 2 digit ward code 2 digit ED code AA0101 ZA1506 Northern Ireland 1 digit district code 2 digit ward code 2 digit ED code 220099 ZZ0099 Scotland Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAA AAAAAA no information available 4 Office Geographical Support Service 1991 A13 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 1 ED positional Shows the status of the assigned ED If there is no EDIND quality indicator i e a blank and an ED code is provided the indicator postcode existed at the 1991 Census and the ED code is an original 1991 Census assignment 1 6 9 orA 1 assigned by point in polygon technique 6 postcode in Northern Ireland 9 postcode in Scotland Channel Islands and Isle of Man A no information available 4 Address count 0 9999 Numeric count taken from PAF ADDRCT maximum range Number of addresses excluding small businesses non or AAAA residential 4 Delivery point 0 9999 Numeric count taken from PAF DPCT count maximum range Total
6. as at the third Friday of the month prior to each release to administrative and electoral areas as at May 2005 and also to the latest known health areas The area assignments for current postcodes in Scotland are to the electoral wards introduced in 1999 and the Council Areas introduced in 1996 both of which still existed at 31 December 2006 The area assignments for current postcodes in Northern Ireland are to the electoral wards and District Council Areas introduced in 1992 which still existed at 31 December 2006 The NSPD uses the ONS standard codes for administrative and electoral areas and the NHS codes for health areas Code ranges for other geographies are those used by the organisation responsible for the geographies where a code range already exists Look up files linking these codes to statutory area names are sent out with the NSPD as a separate electronic file Customers are encouraged to adopt the ONS standard names and codes where possible as these are the recognised standard for National Statistics The Gridlink methodology used to create the NSPD based on 1 metre grid references and digital administrative and electoral area boundaries was introduced in November 2000 Further information on the Gridlink initiative is provided in Section 6 Customers may opt for either the full NSPD or core NSPD containing specific fields each available with 1m or 100m grid references and a choice of area coverage Annex
7. methodology because the underlying electoral ward geography used to define the Primary Care areas have been subject to boundary changes in some instances A pseudo code is included for Northern Ireland and also for Channel Islands and Isle of Man The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference X98 Northern Ireland Channel Is loM pseudo AAAAA no information available A11 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 10 NUTS areas NUTS is a hierarchical classification of spatial units that Point in NUTS provides a breakdown of the European Union s territory polygon and for producing regional statistics which are comparable input from across the Union GROS NI The NUTS area classification in the United Kingdom comprises current national administrative and electoral areas except in Scotland where some NUTS areas comprise whole and or part Local Enterprise Company areas A pseudo code is included for Channel Islands and Isle of Man There are nine NUTS1 areas in England which match the nine Government Office Regions The countries of Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland each constitute a single NUTS1 area For details of NUTS2 3 and LAU1 2 please see Annex A UKC1101001 UKC1101001 UKK4308021 England UKNO507021 UKL1100001 UKL2400082 Wales maxi
8. Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 9 Scottish data The data zone code for each postcode in Scotland A Input from DZONE1 zone pseudo code is included for England and Wales covered GROS by Lower Layer SOAs see above Northern Ireland Channel Islands and Isle of Man 01000001 S01000001 S01006505 data zone in Scotland 01006505 799999999 29999999 postcode in England Wales NI Channel Is loM pseudo ARSA AAAAAAAAA no information available 9 Middle Layer The Middle Layer SOA code for each postcode in Look up from SOA2 Super Output England and Wales A pseudo code is included for COA code Area Scotland Northern Ireland Channel Islands and Isle of Man Middle Layer SOAs sit above Lower Layer SOAs E02000001 E02000001 E02006781 Middle Layer SOA in E02006781 England Wwo2000001 W02000001 W02000413 Middle Layer SOA in Wales W02000413 799999999 299999999 postcode in Scotland NI Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAA no information available A24 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 1 Urban Rural Urban and rural classification of Output Areas for Look up from URINDEW Indicator England and Wales COA code England amp 1 Urban 2 10k sparse COA falls within Urban settlemen
9. G shows the full Field Specification and Annex H shows the core Field Specification The record specification at Annex B includes complete details of all available fields National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 The NSPD is supplied with both a 7 character postcode comprising an outward code 2 4 characters and an inward code always 3 characters or an 8 character postcode includes a space between the outward and inward codes The NSPD is available on CD ROM see Annex C and order forms can be obtained by contacting ONS Geography Customer Services see below A selection of useful web links is included at Annex E Unit postcodes remain the copyright of Royal Mail All other information on the NSPD is Crown copyright Any queries that are not answered within this User Guide or in the accompanying Version Notes should be directed to ONS Geography Customer Services Office for National Statistics Segensworth Road Titchfield FAREHAM Hampshire PO15 5RR Tel 01329 813243 GTN 3042 3243 Fax 01329 813383 E mail ons geography ons gov uk Note ONS Geography does not have the capability to deal with detailed postcode queries relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland but can pass them on to the appropriate government departments New Information Latest geographies included on the NSPD The following geographies are now routinely available on the NSPD e Latest pan SHA information for England e Merged
10. March 2003 Their boundaries are not constrained by any other geography 30 31 32 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 1998 electoral wards Electoral wards existing as at the end of 1998 are included on the NSPD The significance of these codes is that the initial Neighbourhood Statistics data were released for 1998 electoral wards Urban rural indicators England amp Wales The rural and urban classification of postcodes for England and Wales allows datasets to be analysed according to different types of rural and urban area This is based on the National Statistics Rural and Urban Classification of Output Areas released on 21 July 2004 the product of joint work between the Countryside Agency Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Office of the Deputy Prime Minister National Assembly for Wales and Office for National Statistics Postcodes on the NSPD have been assigned to the urban or rural category of the Output Area into which each falls Output Areas are treated as urban if the majority of the population of an Output Area lives within settlements with a population of 10 000 or more The remaining rural Output Areas are grouped into three other broad morphological types based on the predominant settlement component i e whether the population density for the output area shows characteristics that are predominantly town and fringe predominantly village or predominantly dis
11. Region code for each postcode Look up from GOR Office Region Pseudo codes are included for Wales Scotland county or UA GOR Northern Ireland Channel Island and Isle of Man The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference A B D H J K W A B D H J and K GORs in England ZorA W Wales pseudo X Scotland pseudo Y Northern Ireland pseudo Z Channel Is loM pseudo A no information available 4 Standard The Standard Region code for the associated county or Look up from STREG statistical unitary authority to which each postcode is assigned A county or UA region pseudo code is included for postcodes not in England SSR For PO Boxes and non geographic postcodes this field 0 9 or A will generally be blank This field will also be blank for new postcodes for which a grid reference cannot be imputed 1 8 former standard statistical regions in England 9 Wales pseudo 0 postcode not in England or Wales pseudo A no information available A8 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 3 Westminster The Westminster Parliamentary Constituency code for Point in PCON Parliamentary each postcode Pseudo codes are included for Channel polygon and constituency Islands and Isle of Man The field will be
12. SHAs for England e New Health Board and Community Health Partnership areas for Scotland e New Primary Care areas for England Further information is provided in the Version Notes Frequently Asked Questions FAQs Why are some postcodes not assigned to administrative and electoral areas This mainly applies to new postcodes which are assigned grid references by ONS Geography using imputation techniques see Sections 7 and 8 In some cases the imputation procedure cannot assign a grid reference and because the Gridlink processing system assigns postcodes to administrative and electoral areas using grid references with digital administrative and electoral area boundaries codes for the administrative and electoral areas cannot be derived In time the addresses in the new postcodes are surveyed by Ordnance Survey who then assign accurate grid references Additionally some Scottish postcodes National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 appear without areal information due to the methods used by GROS to assign geographic information to their postcodes See also paragraph 9 Why are some postcodes assigned to the wrong administrative and electoral areas There are two reasons 1 Imputation Some postcodes are assigned to administrative and electoral areas using an imputed grid reference Imputation is not an exact science and can cause postcodes to be wrongly assigned until more accurate information becomes available P
13. for Scotland includes four LAU2 areas that form two electoral wards National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Annex B NSPD RECORD SPECIFICATION Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 7 Unit postcode AB1A1AA All current live postcodes within the United Kingdom PCD 7 character ZE999ZZ the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man received version maximum range monthly from Royal Mail Also all terminated closed postcodes that have not been subsequently re used by Royal Mail within the United Kingdom and by the postal administrations in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man 2 3 or 4 character outward code left aligned 3 character inward code right aligned 3rd and 4th characters may be blank A 8 Unit postcode AB1AA1AA As above except PCD2 8 character ZE99A9ZZ 2 3 or 4 character outward code left aligned version maximum range 3 character inward code right aligned 5th character always blank and possibly 3rd and 4th characters blank also A 8 Unit postcode AB1A1AAA 2 3 or 4 character outward code PCDS variable ZE99A9ZZ Single space A length e Gif maximum range 3 character inward code version 6 Date of YYYYMM The most recent occurrence of the postcode s date of DOINTR introduction year and month introduction A2 Crown Copyright 2007 National Stat
14. number of delivery points or AAAA 4 Multiple 0 9999 Numeric count taken from PAF MOCT occupancy maximum range Count of households that are multi occupied count or AAAA 4 Small 0 9999 Numeric count taken from PAF SMLBUSCT business maximum range Number of small businesses count or AAAA A14 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 3 Previous The health area code for the postcode prior to the NHS Point in OSHAPREV Strategic reorganisation on 1 July 2006 The field will be blank for polygon health postcodes with no grid reference authority Q01 Q28 Q01 Q28 strategic health authorities in England health board maximum range health Q99 Q99 pseudo health authority code in Wales authority SA9 SZ9 S health boards in Scotland health and YAC YAF Y health authorities in the Channel Is loM ces services 2E0 ZWO Z health and social services boards in NI oon or AAA AAA no information available 3 Local The LEA ELB in Northern Ireland code for each Point in LEA Education postcode A pseudo code is included for Channel polygon Authority Islands and Isle of Man E amp W and LEA am look up from Education and 201 938 code England 3 digit numeric LEA code L A District Library Board range contains om ELB gaps
15. the latest changes can be found in the Version Notes Primary Care Organisations PCOs Local Health Boards LHBs and Community Health Partnerships CHPs Postcodes on the NSPD have been assigned PCO codes England LHB codes Wales or CHP codes Scotland Postcodes in Northern Ireland Channel Islands and Isle of Man for which there are no equivalent areas have been assigned a dummy code of X98 The Primary Care geography in England was reorganised significantly on 1 October 2006 When PCOs were statutorily defined they were done so in terms of whole local authority districts and or electoral wards in most instances that existed at the time There are now 148 Primary Care Trusts PCTs and four Care Trusts Each of the 22 Local Health Boards in Wales comprises a single unitary authority as at 1 April 2003 Community Health Partnerships CHPs were established by the NHS Boards in Scotland as key building blocks in the modernisation of the NHS joint services Managed jointly by local authorities and health boards CHPs nest within Council Area boundaries but may cross Health Board boundaries There are 40 CHPs covering the whole of Scotland 15 16 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 1991 Census enumeration districts EDs The NSPD assigns 1991 Census EDs to postcodes in England Wales and Northern Ireland For postcodes in England and Wales there were originally two types of assignment
16. 0 Channel Is loM pseudo AA no information available A3 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 1 Postcode user 0 or 1 0 small user USERTYPE type 1 large user Shows whether the postcode is a small or large user 4or6 National grid 4 or 6 character The Ordnance Survey postcode grid reference Easting to Assigned by OSEAST1M reference numeric grid 1 metre or 100 metres resolution blank for postcodes in the Gridlink OSEAST100M Easting reference or the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man Grid Consortium AAAAAA max references for postcodes in Northern Ireland relate to the Irish Grid system A4 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 positional quality indicator 1 within the building of the matched address closest to the postcode mean 2 as for status value 1 except by visual inspection of Landline maps Scotland only 3 approximate to within 50 metres 4 postcode unit mean mean of matched addresses with the same postcode but not snapped to a building 5 imputed by ONS by reference to surrounding postcode grid references 6 postcode sector mean mainly PO Boxes 8 postcode terminated prior to Gridlink ini
17. 51 Northern Ireland 95 county code AA ZZ district code 01 51 CAS ward code 992200 99ZZ00 Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAA AAAAAA no information available A22 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 2 National Park The National Parks covering parts of England Wales Point in PARK and Scotland The field will be blank for postcodes in polygon areas outside the National Parks coverage or with no grid reference 01 15 01 15 National Park in England Wales or Scotland 99 99 not within a National Park postcode in NI Channel Is loM pseudo or AA AA no information available 9 Lower Layer The Lower Layer SOA code for each postcode in Look up from SOA1 Super Output England and Wales A pseudo code is included for COA code Area Scotland covered by data zones see below Northern Ireland Channel Islands and Isle of Man E01000001 E01000001 E01032482 Lower Layer SOA in England E01032482 Wwo01000001 W01000001 W01001896 Lower Layer SOA in Wales W01001896 799999999 299999999 postcode in Scotland NI Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAA no information available A23 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length
18. 660 681 Wales 3 digit numeric LEA code QA R4J Scotland 2 char alpha district code 951 955 Northern Ireland 95 single digit numeric ELB code 992 99Z Channel Is loM pseudo or AAA AAA no information available Each county London borough metropolitan district and unitary authority forms a Local Education Authority The Isles of Scilly has a Local Education Authority separate from the Authority covering Cornwall A15 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 3 Health The old style health authority existing prior to the Point in OLDHA Authority old reorganisation of health areas England in 2002 Wales polygon style in 2003 QAA QZZ Q health authorities in England and Wales maximum range SA9 SZ9 S health boards in Scotland YAC YAF Y health authorities in Channel Is loM ZE0 ZWO Z health and social services boards in NI or AAA AAA no information available the last character may be numeric A16 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 6 1991 ward The 1991 administrative and electoral areas to which the Point in WARDC91 Census code 1 me
19. Assignment Field name description method 1 Output Area Shows the status of the assigned Output Area code A OAIND indicator pseudo code is included for Channel Islands and Isle of Man 0 Assigned to the listed COA via point in polygon using the Gridlink grid reference 0 6 7 9 or A 6 NI Output Area codes 7 Scottish Output Area codes 9 Channel Is loM Pseudo A no information available A21 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 6 Census Area Sub threshold wards those below the threshold for Look up from CASWARD Statistics creating COAs and for the non disclosive release of COA code CAS ward Census data are not separately identified in this field E W amp NI and postcodes in these statistical wards have been and input assigned to their receiving ward The resulting set of from GROS wards is known as Census Area Statistics CAS Wards A pseudo code is included for Channel Island and Isle of Man England Wales and Scotland 01 47 county code 00 UA OOAAFA 47UGGM England AA UG district UA code FA GM CAS ward code OONAMA OOPTPL Wales NA PT UA code MA PL CAS ward code 01C01 32C31 Scotland 01C 32C UA code 01 99 CAS ward code 99C99 Scottish postcode with no CAS ward assigned 95AA01 9522
20. DHA 6 1991 ward code Census WARDC91 6 1991 ward code OGSS WARDO91 6 1998 ward code WARD98 6 2005 Statistical ward STATSWARD 10 OA code OACODE 1 OA indicator OAIND 6 CAS ward CASWARD 2 National Park PARK 9 SOA Lower layer SOA1 9 Datazone DZONE1 9 SOA Middle layer SOA2 1 Urban Rural indicator E amp W URINDEW 1 Urban Rural indicator Scot URINDSC 1 Urban Rural indicator NI URINDNI 9 Intermediate Geography DZONE2 8 SOA NI SOA1NI 3 OA Classification OAC 5 Pre October 2006 PCO OLDPCT Annex G National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 CORE PRODUCT FIELD SPECIFICATION Length Name Field name 7 Postcode 7 chars PCD 8 Postcode 8 chars PCD2 8 Postcode single space e Gif PCDS 6 Date of introduction DOINTR 6 Date of termination DOTERM 2 County OSCTY 2 LA Dist UA OSLAUA 2 Ward OSWARD 1 Usertype USERTYPE 4or6 Grid ref Easting OSEAST1M OSEAST100M 5or 7 Grid ref Northing OSNRTH1M OSNRTH100M 1 Grid ref PQI OSGRDIND 3 Strategic Health Authority OSHLTHAU 3 Country CTRY 1 PO Box indicator GENIND 1 PAF indicator PAFIND 1 GOR GOR 1 Standard Statistical Region STREG 3 Parliamentary Constituency PCON 2 European Electoral Region EER 10 NUTS NUTS 4 Address count ADDRCT 4 Delivery Point count DPCT 4 Multi occupancy count MOCT 4 Small Bus
21. NSPD relates both current and terminated postcodes in the United Kingdom to a range of current statutory administrative electoral health and other area geographies It also links postcodes to pre 2002 health areas 1991 Census enumeration districts for England and Wales 2001 Census Output Areas England Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland Super Output Areas England and Wales and Scottish Datazones It helps support the production of area based statistics from postcoded data The NSPD is produced by ONS Geography which provides geographic support to the Office for National Statistics ONS and geographic services used by other organisations The NSPD is issued quarterly This User Guide contains information about the NSPD including directory content data currency the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes standard names and codes data formats and data quality and limitations A set of Version Notes accompanies each quarterly release of the NSPD These contain a range of summary statistics and highlight important issues that may affect customers The Version Notes provide information about postcode reorganisations administrative and electoral area changes the introduction of new methodologies and or geographies and limitations that are specific to a particular release of the NSPD The NSPD reflects current and terminated postcodes using information supplied on a monthly basis by Royal Mail The NSPD relates postcodes
22. NSPD contains both live postcodes and postcodes which have been terminated by Royal Mail but not subsequently re used see Section 10 Postcode coverage is for the entire United Kingdom the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man The split between large and small users and country and the changes in the numbers of postcodes since the previous NSPD are shown in Table 1 of the Version Notes The numbers of postcodes postcode sectors and postcode districts by postcode areas are shown in Table 2 of the Version Notes The NSPD contains fixed length 7 and 8 character postcode formats and the variable length e Gif e Government Interoperability Framework standard postcode format The latter allows for a single space between the two outward and inward parts of the postcode see Annex B Currency of data Postcodes Information about changes to the postcode geography is routinely received from Royal Mail on a monthly basis and so the currency of the UK postcodes on any version of the NSPD will usually be to the third Friday in the previous month National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Administrative electoral and health areas Information about the currency of administrative electoral and health areas on the NSPD is contained in the Version Notes Gridlink general The postcode is a key piece of data that can provide a geo spatial reference for many uses beyond the delivery of mail In order to make full use o
23. OAAFL OOAAFY Queenhithe OOAAFN OOAAFY Queenhithe OOAAGA OOAAFY Queenhithe ee ees OOAAFB Aldgate OOAAFZ Tower OOAAFD Billingsgate OOAAFZ Tower OOAAFW Lime Street OOAAFZ Tower ee eae OOAAFG Bridge amp Bridge Without OOAAGB Walbrook OOAAFJ Candlewick OOAAGB Walbrook OOAAFP Cornhill OOAAGB Walbrook OOAAFR OOAAGB Walbrook OOAAFU OOAAGB Walbrook Isles of Scill ee eee l 15UHFA 15UHFB St Agnes Lancaster Eas a l 30UHHH 30UHGN Ellel National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Annex E USEFUL WEB LINKS Ward History Database Standard Names and Codes SNAC Database Royal Mail Postcode Updates Urban Rural Classification Census Output Area Allocation Corrections OA Classification Details National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Annex F GEOGRAPHY ALLOCATION DIAGRAM This diagram shows the data supplied to ONS through the Gridlink process and the methodology for adding each geography to the NSPD Postcode PO Box Address Ct Delivery Pt Ct Multi res Ct Small Bus Ct Grid reference Ward PIP Health Authority look up NI data input file Grid reference imputed Scottish data input file 2001 Census OA Super Output Area from COA Urban Rural indicator from COA Pan SHA from SHA Country from LAD Government Office Region from LAD Standard Statistical Region from LAD CAS ward from COA Parliamentary Constituency E
24. ands and Isle of Man The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference 001 905 001 905 England W11 W14 W11 W14 Wales S01 S24 01 S24 Scotland N99 N99 Northern Ireland pseudo Z99 Z99 Channel Is loM pseudo or AAA AAA no information available 3 Travel to work The Travel to Work Area code for the postcode The field Point in TTWA area will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference polygon and CUS rere 001 314 United Kingdom R A 999 or 999 Channel Is loM pseudo AAA AAA no information available Travel to work areas are as defined in 1998 and are based on those electoral ward boundaries existing on 21 April 1991 Census day A10 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 5 Primary Care SAAAA 5ZZAA The code for the Primary Care areas in England LHBs in Point in PCT Trust PCT maximum range Wales and CHPs in Scotland There are no equivalent polygon Local Health Board LHB Care Trust Care Trust Plus Community Health Partnership CHP for PCT 6A1AA 6C4AA maximum range for LHB TACAA TAKAA TALAA TAMAA TANAA 001AA 042AA maximum range for CHP X98AA AAAAA areas in Northern Ireland Channel Islands or Isle of Man Codes are assigned by a point in polygon
25. blank for input from postcodes with no grid reference GROS NI 001 529 England 001 900 or AAA 530 569 Wales code range 801 859 Scotland contains gaps 701 718 Northern Ireland 800 Channel Islands pseudo 900 Isle of Man pseudo AAA no information available 2 European The European Electoral Region code for each postcode Point in EER Electoral A pseudo code is included for Channel Islands and Isle polygon Region of Man The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid EER reference 01 12 99 or AA 01 09 England 10 Wales 11 Scotland 12 Northern Ireland 99 Channel Is loM pseudo AA no information available A9 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 3 Training and The Training and Enterprise Council in England and Point in TECLEC Enterprise Wales or Local Enterprise Company in Scotland code polygon and Council for each postcode In England TECs have now been input from Local replaced by Learning and Skills Councils and in Wales GROS Enterprise by Education and Learning Wales regions However the Company NSPD does not currently contain these new TEC LEC geographies There are no equivalent areas in Northern Ireland but pseudo codes are included for Northern Ireland and also for Channel Isl
26. ction 18 and the remaining four are a numerical COA code 16 1 Postcodes assigned to both English and Scottish COAs The Scottish Census Office GROS maintain a separate Scottish postcode directory called the Postcode Index Two postcodes assigned to Scottish COAs in the Postcode Index because a part of each postcode falls in Scotland are assigned to English COAs in the NSPD because the part of each postcode falling in England comprises a larger population The postcodes are TD9 OTU and TD15 1UY Consequently the assignments for these postcodes will differ between the NSPD and the Postcode Index 16 2 OA classification The 2001 Area Classification of output areas is used to group together geographic areas according to key characteristics common to the population in that grouping These groupings are called clusters and are derived using 2001 population census data see web link at Annex E for further details The classification was originally produced with lower case characters which have been converted to upper case for consistency purposes on the NSPD Lower and Middle Layer Super Output Areas SOAs amp Scottish data and intermediate zones SOAs exist in England Wales and Northern Ireland the Scottish equivalents are called data zones and intermediate zones England and Wales The Lower Layer SOAs have been designed with a mean population figure of 1500 and each consists of a grouping of Output Areas typically five There a
27. d PQIs for the reorganised postcode have been copied back to the terminated postcode The numbers of terminated postcodes included in each issue of the NSPD are shown in Table 4 of the Version Notes Postcode reorganisations Royal Mail conduct biannual postcode reorganisations usually in May and November in order to create more postcodes in areas where the number of postcodes that can be created under the current structure is exhausted For example SO3 was reorganised some years ago into S031 and SO32 to cater for current demands and the reorganisation additionally allows SO33 SO39 postcodes to be assigned at a later date Royal Mail issue lists of postcode reorganisations in their Update series Details of the latest Updates in this series that have been incorporated in the current version of the NSPD are given in the Version Notes Details of postcode reorganisations can also be found at royalmail com the Royal Mail website Strategic Health Authorities SHAs and Health Boards The National Administrative Codes Service NACS in England ONS on behalf of Scotland and Health Solutions Wales are responsible for maintaining their respective health area codes and these were reorganised in 2002 England 2003 Wales and 2006 Scotland The SHAs in England were further reorganised by the NHS on 1 July 2006 to reduce the number from 28 to 10 Details of the various code ranges are given at Annex B and information regarding
28. dministrative and electoral boundaries A input from pseudo code is included for Channel Islands and Isle of GROS OOAAFA 47UGFT OONAMA OOPTNE 00QA01 00RJ30 95AA01 952ZA5 1 992200 or AAAAAA Man The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference England 2 digit county code Wales 2 digit district code Scotland 2 digit ward code Northern Ireland 2 digit county code 1 digit district code 2 digit ward code 99ZZ00 Channel Is loM pseudo AAAAAA no information available A18 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 6 2005 The administrative and electoral areas in England and Point in STATSWARD statistical Wales only used for statistical analysis for each polygon ward England postcode assigned using point in polygon techniques and Wales and advance digital administrative and electoral only boundaries from a range of sources A pseudo code is OOAAFA 47UGGM OONAMA OOPTPL 992200 or AAAAAA included for Scotland Northern Ireland Channel Islands and Isle of Man The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference 01 47 English county code 00 UA code England AA UG district UA code FA GM ward code NA PT UA code MA PL ward code 99ZZ00 Scotland NI Chann
29. e as defined in the European Parliamentary Elections Bill Bill 65 1997 to amend the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1978 so as to alter the method used in Great Britain for electing Members of the European Parliament The Bill created nine Electoral Regions in England with 64 MEPs Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland each constitute a single Electoral Region with 7 MEPs 4 MEPs and 3 MEPs respectively Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics NUTS NUTS is a hierarchical classification of spatial units that provides a breakdown of the European Union s territory for producing regional statistics which are comparable across the Union In the United Kingdom the five tier NUTS structure was reviewed in 1998 as a consequence of the introduction of Government Office Regions and unitary authorities council areas The NUTS area classification comprises national administrative and electoral areas except in Scotland where some NUTS areas comprise whole and or local enterprise company areas NUTS levels 1 3 are frozen for a minimum of three years and NUTS levels 4 and 5 have formed new Local Administrative Units LAUs levels 1 and 2 The smaller administrative units former NUTS5 units are now called LAU2 and NUTS4 units are LAU1 Scotland routinely digitise their postcodes Where postcodes have yet to be digitised it has not been possible to assign a NUTS code by point in polygon As Scottish LAU2 codes are yet to be ratified by E
30. e of the year of statutory operation The policy on statistical wards has been agreed by ministers and is intended to minimise the impact on statistics of the frequent changes to the electoral ward boundaries Local Education Authorities LEAs LEAs are the bodies responsible for the local administration of state sector education services in England and Wales Each LEA coincides with either a county unitary authority metropolitan district or London borough and LEA boundaries are adjusted annually to correspond with any changes to the boundaries of these areas In Northern Ireland local education administration is the responsibility of five Education and Library Boards Belfast North Eastern South Eastern Southern Western which each cover one or more complete district council areas These areas are now covered in the LEA field on the NSPD and full details of the code range can be found in the Record Specification at Annex B In Scotland education administration is the responsibility of local government i e each council area Parliamentary Constituencies England Wales and Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies relate to those defined by the Parliamentary Constituencies England Order 1995 the Parliamentary Constituencies Wales Order 1995 and the Parliamentary Constituencies Northern Ireland Order 1995 and which came into effect at the May 1997 General Election However for the small number of constituencie
31. e resolution Newly introduced postcodes will initially have a grid reference that has been imputed by ONS Geography In due course though these will be replaced by improved ADDRESS POINT grid references which use data supplied by Ordnance Survey s field surveyors Each grid reference is given a Positional Quality Indicator PQI to denote the accuracy of the grid reference as follows 1 within the building of the matched address closest to the postcode mean as for 1 above except by visual inspection of Landline maps Scotland only approximate to within 50 metres postcode unit mean mean of matched addresses with the same postcode but not snapped to an address imputed by ONS by reference to surrounding postcode grid references postcode sector mean mainly PO Boxes not in use postcode terminated last known ONS grid reference used no co ordinates available not in use WP SP OONDO National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 The grid references provided for Northern Ireland postcodes are derived from the OSNI product Pointer and use the Irish National Grid system that covers all of Ireland and is independent of the British National Grid No grid references are provided for postcodes in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man Assignment of postcodes to administrative and electoral areas and other geographies held on the NSPD Administrative and electoral areas GB As part of the G
32. e the base data are already imputed it will not be possible to assign postcodes to the range of geographies included on the NSPD Customers should also note that the use of the NSPD to allocate individual addresses to geographies might be imprecise because of the effects of straddling and wrong assignments Any errors and or omissions identified by NSPD customers should be notified to ONS Geography Customer Services see Section 1 who with the assistance of the appropriate Gridlink Consortium member organisation will endeavour to investigate all reports of suspected errors and or omissions to areal references and National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 inform the customer of the outcome of the report within 5 working days of the receipt of the notification if the query can be resolved within ONS Corrections and identified omissions to the data content of the NSPD are included on the subsequent NSPD release NUTS CLASSIFICATION AREAL LEVELS National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Annex A NUTS Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics is a hierarchical classification of spatial units that provides a breakdown of the European Union s territory for producing regional statistics which are comparable across the Union N B Due to the length of time taken by Eurostat to ratify the NUTS boundaries and ONS Geography policy of using only boundaries that have been validated the lat
33. el Is loM pseudo AAAAAA no information available Wales A19 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 10 Output Area The 2001 Census Output Areas were built from unit Point in OACODE postcodes and constrained to 2003 statistical wards polygon E and they form the building bricks for defining higher level W amp NI and geographies A pseudo code is included for Channel input from Islands and Isle of Man The field will be blank for GROS OOAAFA0001 47UGGMO0016 OONAMAO001 OOPTPL0054 60QA000001 6O0RJ999999 95AA010001 9522519999 99ZZ009999 or AAAAAAAAAA postcodes with no grid reference England and Wales 01 47 English county code 00 English Welsh UA England AA UG district UA code FA GM ward code Wales NA PT UA code MA PL ward code Scotland 60 county code QA RJ UA code Northern Ireland 95 county code AA ZZ district code 01 51 ward code 99ZZ009999 Channel Is loM pseudo AAAAAAAAAA no information available N B If Output Areas codes are subject to future change a one for one matrix list will be made available A20 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments
34. el Islands and the Isle of Man The ED field holds a pseudo code for postcodes in these countries Census Output Areas COAs Postcodes were originally assigned to COAs by one of two methods Method 1 A postcode to COA lookup was compiled incorporating those 1 52 million postcodes existing at the date of the 2001 Census 29 April used to create COAs The design of the COAs was constrained by those electoral ward boundaries promulgated in Statutory Instruments by the end of December 2002 Consequently some postcodes were split by the electoral ward boundaries In these instances the split postcodes were assigned to a single COA on the basis of where the majority of the population was located This differed from the methodology used to assign postcodes to electoral wards and administrative areas which use the grid reference of the address closest to the postcode mean and digital boundaries Assigning postcodes to COAs using a population weighted methodology and the best fitting COAs to electoral wards can result in different postcode electoral ward assignments when compared to a direct address weighted point in polygon assignment i e Gridlink This is because there may be more people in one part of a split postcode which results in the whole postcode being assigned to a particular COA yet in some circumstances there may be more addresses in the other part of the split which results in the postcode being assigned to a different COA Wit
35. es in terms of their constituent local authority districts and electoral wards The constitutions at local authority district level have been provided by the Department of Health in respect of health authorities in England and by each of the other three UK constituent countries All appropriate codes are also included Directory specifications Annex B lists the specification for the records on the Gridlink NSPD giving the length and description of each field the range of possible codes and any qualifying comments It also provides further general information on each field such as source currency and extent of data For those customers taking the NSPD in dbf or Access 97 format the field names are also given Data formats Full and extract versions of the NSPD in a range of data formats are available on CD ROM Details are given in Annex C Use of the NSPD The NSPD may be used only within the purchaser s authority or organisation as specified to and accepted by ONS Geography Customer Services in writing see Section 1 Use of the NSPD for any other purpose must be declared to and agreed by ONS Geography Customer Services in writing prior to use In general terms purchasers may use the NSPD freely within the purchasing authority organisation and may also use the data for any activities that are resourced or funded by the purchasing authority organisation The purchaser has responsibility for ensuring that the NSPD satisfies the
36. est NUTS codes for England and Wales are current to 2003 and Scotland at LAU1 level are current to 2004 A summary of the structure including the numbers of areas for each country at each level is shown below England Government Office Regions 9 Individual counties or groups of counties London boroughs metropolitan districts unitary authorities 30 Individual counties unitary authorities or groups of counties London boroughs metropolitan districts unitary authorities county districts 93 Individual London boroughs metropolitan districts unitary authorities county districts 354 Electoral wards divisions 8 005 Wales Country 1 Groups of unitary authorities 2 Groups of unitary authorities 12 Individual unitary authorities 22 Electoral divisions 870 Scotland Country 1 Groups of whole part unitary authorities and or local enterprise company areas 4 Groups of whole part unitary authorities and or local enterprise company areas 23 Individual or groups of whole part unitary authorities and or local enterprise company areas 41 Electoral wards 1222 Northern lreland Groups of district unitary authorities 5 Individual district unitary authorities 26 Electoral 10 679 wards 582 1 As at December 2003 The figure for England includes five parishes on the Isles of Scilly which is not warded the figure
37. f its potential and to deliver improved consistency a consortium of organisations was formed in 1999 to allow the specialist resources of each member to be pooled The Gridlink Consortium consists of Royal Mail Group plc Ordnance Survey GB General Register Office for Scotland Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland OSNI and ONS It was soon recognised that a core set of data within each Consortium member s postcode products needed to be consistent and branded The branding name is Gridlink and the core data are e All current i e live UK unit postcodes but ONS will continue to maintain postcodes terminated and not subsequently re used by Royal Mail Grid references to 1 metre resolution and optionally truncated to 100 metres Positional quality indicators for grid references UK country codes Electoral ward codes Administrative local authority district codes Administrative unitary authority codes Administrative county codes Health regional area codes Health authority codes Each of the Gridlink Consortium members produces their postcode products based upon the core data A diagram showing the Gridlink data and all other geography allocation methods is included at Annex F Grid references Postcode grid references in the NSPD are available in 1 or 100 metre resolution and the majority are derived from the Ordnance Survey product ADDRESS POINT that contains grid references for each address to 0 1 metr
38. hin the 1 52 million postcodes some 267 354 large user postcodes mainly large employer PO Box postcodes were reviewed for the purpose of producing Census 17 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 statistics because their grid references were linked to the local Royal Mail sorting office rather than their physical location The large user postcodes included in the review were assigned to the appropriate COAs based on their geographical location but their Gridlink grid references were not changed Consequently the use of point in polygon methodology to assign these postcodes to COAs produced different COA assignments to those included on the lookup Method 2 The remaining 0 54 million postcodes in England and Wales which comprise both new postcodes since April 2001 and postcodes terminated prior to that date were assigned to a COA using a set of digital COA boundaries and their Gridlink grid references See Annex E for a link to Census OA corrections Over time the use of the original methodologies to assign COAs to postcodes caused inaccuracies for some allocations From August 2006 the common point in polygon methodology used in Method 2 above was introduced to allocate all postcodes to COAs bringing this geography in line with the majority on the NSPD with the original allocations being included in the accompanying metadata The first six characters of the COA represent the CAS ward code see Se
39. iness count SMLBUSCT 3 Pre July 2006 SHA OSHAPREV 3 Pre 2002 Health Authority OLDHA 6 1991 ward code Census WARDC91 6 1991 ward code OGSS WARDO91 6 1998 ward code WARD98 10 OA code OACODE 1 OA indicator OAIND 6 CAS ward CASWARD 9 SOA Lower layer SOA1 9 Datazone DZONE1 9 SOA Middle layer SOA2 1 Urban Rural indicator E amp W URINDEW 1 Urban Rural indicator Scot URINDSC 1 Urban Rural indicator NI URINDNI 9 Intermediate Geography DZONE2 8 SOA NI SOA1NI 3 OA Classification OAC Annex H
40. ir requirements Purchasers must obtain permission in writing from ONS Geography Customer Services before transferring the NSPD to a third party 36 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 The information in the NSPD cannot be transferred or published either in whole or in part nor certain information derived from the NSPD unless already agreed without first obtaining permission in writing from ONS Geography Customer Services Limitations data quality No warranty is given by ONS as to the accuracy or comprehensiveness of the data contained on the NSPD or to the physical condition of the medium on which it is supplied ONS will take reasonable steps to correct any identified errors and if appropriate will re issue the NSPD without further charge Two types of errors may occur in the NSPD omissions and inaccuracies With such a large file it is inevitable that some information will be missing Now that monthly postcode updating procedures are in place the likelihood of missing postcodes is very small The very latest postcodes i e those introduced between the latest monthly postcode update and the issue of the NSPD will not be included but any other missing postcodes are likely to have been absent from Royal Mail s Postcode Address File PAF which forms the basis of the Royal Mail monthly input into the NSPD Missing postcodes should therefore be reported to ONS Geography see Section 1 for forwarding to Ro
41. istics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 6 Date of YYYYMM If present the most recent occurrence of the postcodes s DOTERM termination year and month date of termination otherwise or AAAAAA AAAAAA live postcode 2 County 00 09 47 95 99 00 preceding UA code E Collectively known as Assigned by OSCTY or AA W amp S pseudo the ward code The the Gridlink 09 47 county England administrative and Consortium 95 Northern Ireland electoral areas to which 99 Channel Is loM the 1 metre postcode pseudo grid reference has been AA no information assigned using point in available polygon techniques and 2 Local authority AA MW UB UQ AA MW UA UB UQ POUAR DE M aiga OSLAUA district unitary District England oae Ta authority NA PT NA PT UA Wales electoral boundaries QA RJ QA RJ UA Scotland Popudo Codes are maximum ranges included for Channel AA ZA AA ZA Northern Ireland Islands and Isle of Man ZZ or ZZ Channel Is loM For non geographic KA pseudo postcodes these fields AG inf rmiation will generally be blank The field will also be available blank for postcodes with 2 Electoral FA ZZ FA ZZ England and Wales no grid reference OSWARD ward division MA MZ MA MZ Scotland 01 99 01 99 Northern Ireland maximum range 00 or AA 0
42. land usually change about every 10 years boundary co terminosity is more stable than elsewhere in the United Kingdom Other geographies held on the NSPD Other area assignments are based on point in polygon techniques and the appropriate digital boundaries Scottish input to the NSPD The General Register Office for Scotland GROS provides ONS with quarterly input to the NSPD covering a range of geographies for Scottish postcodes Large user postcodes In Scotland boundaries are not drawn for large user postcodes Instead large users are linked to the nearest small user postcode small user link Geographic data assigned to large user postcodes is that of the small user link However not every large user is assigned geographic data The exceptions are large users that are PO Boxes large users that GROS cannot find a small user link for and new large users that have still to be linked Instead GROS assign a Council Area ward code via 10 11 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 imputation procedures for their Postcode Index Scottish equivalent to the NSPD However in order to maintain UK consistency the NSPD uses the Gridlink grid reference ward and health codes and other geographies based upon them in these instances For more information on Scottish large users please contact GROS see Section 1 Split postcodes GROS splits a postcode into separate polygons when e apostcode straddles 2 or
43. ld name description method 8 Super Output The SOA code for each postcode in Northern Ireland A Look up from SOA1NI Area Northern pseudo code is included for England and Wales covered COA code Ireland by Lower Layer SOAs see above Scotland covered by data zones see also above Channel Islands and Isle of Man 95AA01S1 95AA01S1 95ZZ16S2 SOA in Northern Ireland 95ZZ16S2 99ZZ99Z9 99ZZ99Z9 postcode in England Wales Scotland Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAA no information available 3 Output Area The OA classification code for each postcode in the UK Look up from OAC Classification A pseudo code is included for Channel Islands and Isle COA code of Man 1A1 7B2 1A1 7B2 OA classification in UK 9Z9 9Z9 postcode in Channel Is loM pseudo or AAA AAA no information available 5 Old Primary SAAAA 5ZZAA The pre October 2006 code for the Primary Care areas Point in OLDPCT Care Trust maximum range in England and Wales Primary Care areas do not exist polygon PCT for PCT in Scotland or Northern Ireland Codes are assigned by 6A1AA 6BC4AA a point in polygon methodology because the underlying Local Health electoral ward geography used to define the Primary Board LHB Care Trust maximum range for LHB TACAA TAGAA TAKAA TALAA X98AA AAAAA Care areas have been subject to boundary changes in some instances A dummy code has been assigned to p
44. lease inform ONS Geography Customer Services of any postcodes considered to be wrongly assigned 2 Straddling As the postal and administrative electoral geographies do not map directly onto one another postcodes often straddle administrative and electoral boundaries Postcodes are always assigned to single administrative and electoral areas based upon a single grid reference which is the mean of all the addresses in the postcode or the address closest to the mean This will inevitably lead to apparent wrong assignments where addresses in a postcode fall in two administrative electoral areas see Section 8 Why don t postcode areas follow administrative and electoral area boundaries Postcode areas are defined and used by Royal Mail for the purpose of efficient mail delivery and have no relationship with administrative and electoral areas Royal Mail requires a relatively stable geography in order to deliver its services which the administrative and electoral area geography cannot provide Why don t all the 1991 electoral ward ED codes on the NSPD match the current electoral ward codes The 1991 electoral ward ED assignments relate to administrative and electoral areas as constituted at the 1991 Census Many administrative and electoral areas have undergone statutory boundary changes since then leading to new electoral wards with new codes these new codes are used for current postcode to ward assignments Postcode content The
45. more Council Area boundaries e a postcode straddles the Scottish English border and when e an island and the mainland or 2 islands share a postcode The split postcode is identified by an A B or C suffix in the Scottish Postcode Index However for the purposes of the NSPD split postcodes are not recognised Instead GROS converts the split record into a single record assigning to it the area codes from the largest part of the split The results may produce differences in the allocation of area codes when compared with the Postcode Index and users should refer to GROS for specific information relating to Scottish split postcodes see Section 1 The Gridlink core dataset covers grid reference ward code and health code for UK postcodes but other geographies where applicable are assigned from the GROS file PO Boxes and non geographic postcodes Non geographic postcodes can either be special postcodes assigned to some large users of the postal service or PO Boxes that lie within a pseudo postcode district that does not form a discrete part of a post town These will all have been assigned a grid reference usually the local Royal Mail sorting office and the majority have a PQI of 1 but some have been assigned a PQI of 6 see Section 7 Terminated postcodes Postcodes are frequently terminated by Royal Mail for various reasons but most commonly it is due to the demolition re development of buildings or to postcode reorganisation
46. mum UKM1001 UKM4600 Scotland ranges UKNO0100001 UKN0507021 N Ireland ZZZ9999999 ZZZ9999999 Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAA no information available Characters 1 3 NUTS1 level characters 1 4 NUTS2 level characters 1 5 NUTS3 level characters 1 7 LAU1 level characters 1 10 LAU2 level 3 Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics a classification of spatial units used within the UK for producing regional statistics for comparison with other regions within the European Union A12 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 8 1991 Census OGSS code The code for the 1991 Census ED in which all addresses Point in PSED Enumeration range in a postcode are contained or the single best fit ED polygon District ED based on the largest number of 1991 Census households in the postcode split parts or a single ED identifier for postcodes introduced since the 1991 Census assigned by a point in polygon methodology A pseudo code is included for Scotland Channel Islands and Isle of Man aes England amp Wales 2 digit county code 2 digit district i code 2 digit ward code 2 digit ED code 95AA0101 Northern Ireland 2 digit county code 1 digit district 95ZA1506 code 2 digit ward code 2 digit ED code
47. nal Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 3 Strategic The health area code for the postcode The field will be Assigned by OSHLTHAU health blank for postcodes with no grid reference the Gridlink auinonty Q30 Q39 Q30 Q39 strategic health authorities in England onarim health boardi Q99 Q99 pseudo health authority code in Wales via look up health SA9 SZ9 S health boards in Scotland Trom ward authority YAC YAF Y health authorities in the Channel Is loM supplied by health and ZE0 ZWO Z health and social services boards in NI ONS social services i l board or AAA AAA no information available 3 Pan SHA The Pan SHA responsible for the associated strategic Look up from HRO Country health authority for each postcode in England Pan Strategic SHAs are now used instead of IT Clusters which were Health abolished on 31 March 2007 Pseudo codes are Authority included for Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Channel Islands and Isle of Man The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference Y51 Y53 Y Pan SHA in England S00 S00 Scotland pseudo WO0 woo Wales pseudo X00 X00 Channel Is loM pseudo Z00 Z00 Northern Ireland pseudo or AAA AAA no information available A6 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory
48. ntified in the NSPD and postcodes in these statistical wards have been assigned to their receiving ward The resulting set of wards is known as CAS wards For postcodes in England Wales and Northern Ireland the first six characters of the COA code which represents the CAS ward code have been used in the NSPD to populate the CAS ward field Postcodes in Scotland have been assigned to CAS wards using an Output Area CAS ward look up supplied by GROS As CAS wards in Scotland and Northern Ireland are regarded as distinct Scottish and Northern Irish geographies it has now been decided to include their respective code ranges Details of all the CAS ward code ranges are included in the Record Specification at Annex B The 18 sub threshold wards in England and their receiving wards are detailed in Annex D 18 1 Output Area CAS ward corrections in Milton Keynes Monmouthshire and North Norfolk The main Census 2001 results were produced for wards legally in existence on 31 December 2002 in line with the National Statistics policy on boundary change and to meet a widespread requirement for statistics for up to date areas However final digital versions of boundaries for some of these wards were not available in time for use in the main Census output and a number of differences between the draft and final boundaries occurred Most differences are minor but in three local authorities Milton Keynes two wards Monmouthshire 19
49. ostcodes in Scotland and Northern Ireland The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference X98 Scotland NI Channel Is loM pseudo AAAAA no information available A28 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Annex C DATA FORMATS Available on CD ROM or DVD R in ASCII text Comma Separated Variable MS Access 2000 and DBASE IV compatible format File name NSPDa_mmm_yyyy_bb_ccc Where a F Full or C Core see Section 1 Where mmm month e g NOV Where yyyy year e g 2007 Where bb area of coverage e g UK Where ccc grid reference resolution e g 100M Format File type Record length Format File type Record length Format File type Format File type ASCII xt 218 maximum Comma Separated Variable CSV 218 maximum MS Access 2000 mdb DBASE IV compatible dbf National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Annex D SUB THRESHOLD WARDS AND THEIR RECEIVING WARDS Sub threshold Sub threshold Receiving Receiving ward code ward name ward code ward name City of London ee eee OOAAFC OOAAFE Bishopsgate OOAAFH Broad Street OOAAFE Bishopsgate OOAAFM Coleman Street OOAAFE Bishopsgate ee o o OOAAFK Castle Baynard OOAAFS Farringdon Within ee o OOAAFF Bread Street OOAAFY Queenhithe O
50. persed the latter includes hamlets and isolated dwellings The classification also categorises Output Areas based on context i e whether the wider surrounding area of a given output area is sparsely populated or less sparsely populated Scotland The urban rural classification in Scotland is consistent with the Scottish Executive s core definition of rurality which defines settlements of 3 000 or less people to be rural It also classifies areas as remote based on drive times from settlements of 10 000 or more people Postcodes on the NSPD have been assigned to the urban or rural category on an individual basis based upon data received from GROS Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland an eight band categorisation of settlements was introduced in February 2005 These categories range from Band A Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area to Band H Small village hamlet and open countryside with bands A E being classed as urban and bands F H being classed as rural The DOE Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland Planning Service statutory settlement development limits have been used as the geographical delineation of settlements Details of the code ranges are included in the Record Specification Annex B and a web link is included at Annex E Names and codes The names of all administrative and health areas are the standard names being adopted for use throughout National Statistics The names are
51. ral Urban and rural classification of postcodes for Scotland Input from URINDSC Indicator A pseudo code is included for England Wales Northern GROS Scotland Ireland Channel Islands and Isle of Man 1 9 orA 1 Large Urban Area Settlement of over 125 000 people 2 Other Urban Area Settlement of 10 000 to 125 000 people 3 Accessible Small Town Settlement of 3 000 to 10 000 people within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10 000 or more 4 Remote Small Town Settlement of 3 000 to 10 000 people with a drive time of 30 to 60 minutes to a settlement of 10 000 or more 5 Very Remote Small Town Settlement of 3 000 to 10 000 people with a drive time of over 60 minutes to a settlement of 10 000 or more 6 Accessible Rural Settlement of less than 3 000 people within 30 minutes drive of a settlement of 10 000 or more 7 Remote Rural Settlement of less than 3 000 people with a drive time of 30 to 60 minutes to a settlement of 10 000 or more 8 Very Remote Rural Settlement of less than 3 000 people with a drive time of over 60 minutes to a settlement of 10 000 or more 9 postcode in England Wales NI Channel Is loM pseudo A no information available A26 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data description Range of codes Comments Assignment method Field name Urban Rural Indicator Northern Ireland
52. re 34 378 Lower Layer SOAs with an absolute minimum population size of 1000 The Middle Layer SOAs have a mean population figure of 7200 minimum 5000 and consist of a grouping of Lower Layer SOAs Middle Layer SOAs are constrained by the 2003 local authority boundaries used for 2001 Census outputs 18 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Scotland Data zones are the core Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics geography There are 6505 data zones each containing between 500 and 1000 household residents Intermediate zones are the geography that sits above data zones and they have a minimum population of 2 500 6 000 which are of a size between the lower and middle layer SOAs in England and Wales There are 1235 intermediate zones Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland Super Output Areas SOAs were released in 2005 There is one layer of SOA with a population size between 1 300 and 2 800 similar in size to the lower layer SOAs in England and Wales Census Area Statistics CAS wards In processing Census data for publication eighteen 2003 statistical wards were identified as sub threshold i e the count of population and households fell below the threshold for creating COAs and for the non disclosive release of Census data These 18 sub threshold wards were combined with seven receiving wards to form acceptably sized COAs and permit publication of data The sub threshold wards are not separately ide
53. ridlink initiative postcodes in Great Britain are assigned to administrative and electoral areas by Ordnance Survey GB using a point in polygon methodology that matches 0 1 metre resolution grid references for postcodes derived from ADDRESS POINT see Section 7 against their Boundary Line product Boundary Line is now produced in June and contains all administrative and electoral area boundary changes to the previous May Administrative and electoral areas Northern Ireland A similar process is being used by OSNI which enables a UK postcode directory to be produced The currency of the Northern Ireland administrative and electoral area data is to the present time as their boundaries have remained unchanged since 1992 Health areas and administrative and electoral areas Changes to administrative and electoral area boundaries are not automatically applied to health areas so the two boundary sets have ceased to be co terminous but the impact on postcode assignments has been minimised through use of digital health area boundaries created when initially defined in terms of co terminous administrative and electoral areas Similarly in Scotland administrative and electoral boundary changes do not routinely affect health boundaries although health area boundaries may later be altered to align with changed administrative and electoral area boundaries As changes to administrative and electoral boundaries in Northern Ire
54. ross England and Wales but were replaced in 2001 by Local Learning and Skills Councils LLSCs in England and in Wales by the regional offices of Education and Learning Wales ELWa LECs are government funded bodies which aim to foster local economic growth and development in Scotland There are 21 LECs and these cover the whole of Scotland Travel to Work Areas TTWAs TTWAs are used in labour market analysis and reflect reasonably self contained zones in which the bulk of the resident population also work They are built from 1991 electoral wards but no account is taken of local authority boundaries TTWAs do not however cross national boundaries National Parks National parks are designed to conserve the natural beauty and cultural heritage of areas of outstanding landscape value and to promote public understanding and enjoyment of these areas There are currently 12 national parks in England and Wales Of these ten were designated in the 1950s following the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 The Broads Norfolk Suffolk has had a similar status since 1989 and The New Forest was given national park status in 2005 The South Downs is not yet formally a national park but the designation process is underway In Scotland the National Parks Scotland Act was passed in July 2000 The first Scottish national park Loch Lomond and the Trossachs was established in July 2002 and the Cairngorms national park was established in
55. s GORs 15 26 Standard Statistical Regions SSRs 15 27 Training and Enterprise Councils Local Enterprise Companies 15 TEC LECs National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 28 Travel To Work Areas TTWAs 15 29 National Parks 15 30 1998 electoral wards 16 31 Urban rural indicators 16 32 Names and codes 16 33 Directory specifications 17 34 Data formats 17 35 Use of the NSPD 17 36 Limitations data quality 18 ANNEXES Annex A NUTS classification areal levels A1 Annex B Record specification A2 Annex C Data formats A29 Annex D Sub threshold wards and their receiving wards A30 Annex E Useful web links A31 Annex F Geography allocation diagram A32 Annex G Full product field specification A33 Annex H Core product field specification A34 TRADEMARKS Gridlink is a registered trademark of the Gridlink Consortium and may not be used without the written consent of the Gridlink Programme Board The Gridlink logo is a registered trademark ADDRESS POINT is a registered trademark of Ordnance Survey the national mapping agency of Great Britain Boundary Line is a trademark of Ordnance Survey the national mapping agency of Great Britain OSNI is a registered trademark of Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland Pointer is a registered trademark of Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Introduction The National Statistics Postcode Directory
56. s see Section 12 Terminated postcodes are occasionally re used by Royal Mail but not usually before an elapsed period of two years In such circumstances all terminated postcodes and their grid references are retained on the NSPD and a termination date is added which provides a clear indication of a postcode s status Areal data assigned to terminated postcodes are updated prior to each release of the NSPD so the directory contains current information linked to each record If and when a postcode is subsequently re used by Royal Mail the old grid reference and termination date are removed thus deleting all reference to the former existence of the postcode from the NSPD The new location of the postcode will initially have a grid reference imputed by ONS Geography which will eventually be replaced by an improved one derived from Ordnance Survey s ADDRESS POINT product As the Gridlink system processes only live postcodes it is not possible to assign Gridlink quality grid references to postcodes terminated prior to November 2000 Grid references for these postcodes have been copied from the old Traditional 12 13 14 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 NSPD and have been given a single PQI value 8 However in instances where terminated postcodes have been replaced by new postcodes on a one for one basis as part of postcode reorganisations the area information and the associate
57. s affected by the Parliamentary Constituencies England The only exception to this is that the Isles of Scilly has its own LEA separate to that of Cornwall 22 23 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Miscellaneous Changes Order 1998 the NSPD reflects the changes which came into effect at the June 2001 General Election No further changes are envisaged until 2009 2010 Scotland The Scottish Parliament Constituencies Act 2004 passed by the UK Parliament in July 2004 came into effect upon the dissolution of the last UK Parliament and breaks the linkage between UK Parliament constituencies and Scottish Parliament constituencies This has enabled the Westminster Government to reduce the number of Scottish constituencies in the UK parliament in line with recommendations made by the Boundary Commission for Scotland following its the Fifth Periodical Review of Constituencies December 2004 The Parliamentary Constituencies Scotland Order 2005 details the reduction of the number of constituencies for the UK Parliament from 72 to 59 Scottish seats The changes bring the size of Scottish constituencies more into line with the size of English seats English constituencies currently contain nearly 70 000 voters on average compared to the Scottish average of 53 500 Details of the code ranges are included in the Record Specification at Annex B European Electoral Regions EERs European Electoral Regions ar
58. those used in Acts of 33 34 35 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Parliament and Statutory Instruments to publish changes to the administrative and health geographies The codes contained in the NSPD are the corporate ONS codes In establishing a set of corporate area codes ONS has adopted the NHS coding scheme for health areas and the codes for other higher area geographies where they are already established and in current use It is intended that the corporate ONS codes will also be adopted for use within National Statistics but it is recognised that many data systems will be dependent on other existing coding systems and that wider acceptance and use of the corporate ONS codes will not be achieved in the short term To overcome potential coding incompatibility ONS Geography has developed a Standard Names and Codes SNAC database containing a matrix look up between the various coding schemes where links are possible and also an extended list of names and codes for other geographies e g Parliamentary Constituencies Standard Names and Codes Full names and codes listings are supplied with the NSPD The names and codes for the administrative and health areas and the relationships between the two geographies are included in a Ward Health matrix that is produced annually to reflect each year s boundary changes Ward Health Matrix This provides the constitution of each of the 28 strategic health authoriti
59. tiative last known ONS postcode grid reference 9 no grid references available Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 5or7 National grid 5or7 character The Ordnance Survey postcode grid reference Northing Assigned by OSNRTH1M reference numeric grid to 1 metre or 100 metres resolution blank for postcodes the Gridlink OSNRTH100M Northing reference or in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man Grid Consortium AAAAAAA max references for postcodes in Northern Ireland relate to the Irish Grid system 1 Grid reference 1 6 8 9 Shows the status of the assigned grid reference OSGRDIND Customers taking 1 metre grid references should note that the terminated postcodes with an 8 code are those that were terminated prior to the Gridlink initiative which became operational in November 2000 The grid references are those assigned by ONS for postcodes in England and Wales and those assigned by the General Register Office for Scotland and the Department for Economic Development in Northern Ireland for their respective postcodes Consequently the grid references for England and Wales will be mainly to 100 metre resolution while the grid references for other parts of the UK will be to 10 metre resolution Postcodes terminated since November 2000 retain the same positional quality indicators as they had prior to their termination A5 Crown Copyright 2007 Natio
60. tre postcode grid reference has been assigned polygon and range using _point in polygon techniques and digital input from administrative and electoral boundaries A pseudo code GROS is included for Channel Islands and Isle of Man The field will be blank for postcodes with no grid reference 01AAFA 55TTFZ England amp Wales 2 digit county code 71UB01 82UB30 Scotland 2 digit district code 2 digit ward code 95AA01 95ZA51 Northern Ireland 2 digit county code 1 digit district code 2 digit ward code 99ZZ00 99ZZ00 Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAA AAAAAA no information available 6 1991 ward Same as above except an OGSS code is provided Point in WARDO91 OGSS code 91AAFA 63UEFZ England amp Wales 2 digit county code ee ae range 71UB01 82UB30 Scotland 2 digit district code rip a 2 digit ward code 95AA01 95ZA51 Northern Ireland 2 digit county code 1 digit district code 2 digit ward code 99ZZ00 99ZZ00 Channel Is loM pseudo or AAAAAA AAAAAA no information available Office Geographical Support Service 1991 A17 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 6 1998 ward The 1998 administrative and electoral areas for each Point in WARD98 postcode assigned using point in polygon techniques polygon and and digital a
61. ts 1 9 orA with a population of 10 000 or more and the wider surrounding area is sparsely populated Wales 2 Town and Fringe sparse COA falls within the Small Town and Fringe areas category and the wider surrounding area is sparsely populated 3 Village sparse COA falls within the Village category and the wider surrounding area is sparsely populated 4 Hamlet and Isolated Dwelling sparse COA falls within the Hamlet amp Isolated Dwelling category and the wider surrounding area is sparsely populated 5 Urban 2 10k less sparse COA falls within Urban settlements with a population of 10 000 or more and the wider surrounding area is less sparsely populated 6 Town and Fringe less sparse COA falls within the Small Town and Fringe areas category and the wider surrounding area is less sparsely populated 7 Village less sparse COA falls within the Village category and the wider surrounding area is less sparsely populated 8 Hamlet and Isolated Dwelling less sparse COA falls within the Hamlet amp Isolated Dwelling category and the wider surrounding area is less sparsely populated 9 postcode in Scotland NI Channel Is loM pseudo A no information available A25 Crown Copyright 2007 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 Length Data Range of codes Comments Assignment Field name description method 1 Urban Ru
62. uropean Electoral Region TEC Travel to work Area Primary Care area NUTS 1991 Census ED Local Education Authority Old Health Authority 1991 ward 1998 ward Statistical ward National Park Old Primary Care Trust National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 FULL PRODUCT FIELD SPECIFICATION Length Name Field name 7 Postcode 7 chars PCD 8 Postcode 8 chars PCD2 8 Postcode single space e Gif PCDS 6 Date of introduction DOINTR 6 Date of termination DOTERM 2 County OSCTY 2 LA Dist UA OSLAUA 2 Ward OSWARD 1 Usertype USERTYPE 4or6 Grid ref Easting OSEAST1M OSEAST 100M 5 or7 Grid ref Northing OSNRTH1M OSNRTH100M 1 Grid ref PQI OSGRDIND 3 Strategic Health Authority OSHLTHAU 3 IT Cluster HRO 3 Country CTRY 1 PO Box indicator GENIND 1 PAF indicator PAFIND 1 GOR GOR 1 Standard Statistical Region STREG 3 Parliamentary Constituency PCON 2 European Electoral Region EER 3 TEC LEC TECLEC 3 Travel to Work Area TTWA 5 Primary Care Organisation PCT 10 NUTS NUTS 8 1991 Census ED OGSS PSED 6 1991 Census ED Census CENED 1 ED indicator EDIND 4 Address count ADDRCT 4 Delivery Point count DPCT 4 Multi occupancy count MOCT 4 Small Business count SMLBUSCT 3 Pre July 2006 SHA OSHAPREV 3 Local Education Authority LEA 3 Pre 2002 Health Authority OL
63. urostat NUTS codes for Scotland are shown at LAU1 level A summary of the structure including the numbers of areas for each country at each level is shown at Annex A 24 25 26 27 28 29 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 NHS pan SHAs and IT Clusters The five IT Clusters that replaced Directorates of Health and Social Care from July 2003 to 31 March 2007 have themselves been replaced by three pan SHAs from 1 April 2007 These pan SHA codes are included in the HRO field on the NSPD Each pan SHA consists of a group of Strategic Health Authorities Their names and codes are shown below Pan SHA name Code North Midlands and the East Programme for IT NMEPFiT Y51 Southern Programme for IT SPFiT Y52 London Programme for IT LPFiT Y53 Government Office Regions GORs The nine GORs are the primary statistical subdivisions of England and also the areas in which the Government Offices for the Regions fulfil their role Each GOR covers a number of local authorities Standard Statistical Regions SSRs The eight SSRs were the primary statistical subdivisions of England before the GORs see above were adopted for this purpose in 1996 They are now rarely used Training and Enterprise Councils Local Enterprise Companies TEC LECs TECs were government funded bodies which aimed to foster local economic growth and development They existed ac
64. wards and North Norfolk two wards the differences are large enough to mean that more accurate estimates of the Census Area Statistics CAS for a total of 23 wards can be produced by assigning Output Areas OAs to a different CAS ward to that used previously The wards affected are OOMGNW Stony Stratford Milton Keynes OOMGNZ Wolverton Milton Keynes OOPPNR Caldicot Castle Monmouthshire OOPPNS Cantref Monmouthshire OOPPNT Castle Monmouthshire 19 20 21 National Statistics Postcode Directory 2007 User Guide v4 OOPPNU Croesonen Monmouthshire OOPPNY Dewstow Monmouthshire OOPPNZ Dixton with Osbaston Monmouthshire OOPPPA Drybridge Monmouthshire OOPPPC Green Lane Monmouthshire OOPPPE Lansdown Monmouthshire OOPPPF Larkfield Monmouthshire OOPPPP Mardy Monmouthshire OOPPPQ Mill Monmouthshire OOPPPU Priory Monmouthshire OOPPPZ St Christopher s Monmouthshire OOPPQA St Kingsmark Monmouthshire OOPPQC Severn Monmouthshire OOPPQE The Elms Monmouthshire OOPPQF Thornwell Monmouthshire OOPPQJ West End Monmouthshire 33UFHC Lancaster North North Norfolk 33UFHD Lancaster South North Norfolk Further details are available on the National Statistics website Statistical wards Statistical wards are those electoral wards promulgated in Statutory Instruments by the end of a calendar year and implemented for statistical purposes on 1 April in the following year irrespectiv
65. yal Mail Inaccuracies also originate from two sources Straddling The addresses forming each small user postcode are not co terminous with the boundaries of administrative and health areas and other non postal geographies The inevitable result is that some postcodes straddle the boundaries of other areas As each areal reference is generally assigned using the postcode s 1 metre grid reference clipped to the address closest to the postcode mean or the postcode unit mean see Section 7 some addresses within a postcode may fall in two or more different areas It is possible therefore that the majority of addresses in a postcode are assigned to an area on the basis of the postcode s grid reference whereas they actually fall within one or more adjacent areas Wrong assignments Given the necessity to impute 1 metre grid references for new postcodes most of which will ultimately be replaced by better quality grid references derived from either Ordnance Survey s ADDRESS POINT or OSNI s Pointer product it is likely that the Gridlink NSPD will always contain some wrong assignments There will also be instances where accurate postcode grid references are unable to be obtained for other reasons thus affecting the quality of the area assignments Quality can be subjectively assessed from the PQlIs of the grid references In the few instances where imputation techniques are unable to assign grid references to postcodes usually wher

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