Postal codes used in the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the General Post Office. A full postcode is known as a "postcode unit" and designates an area with several addresses or a single major delivery point.
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
GSS codes are nine-character geocodes maintained by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics (ONS) to represent a wide range of geographical areas of the UK, for use in tabulating census and other statistical data. GSS refers to the Government Statistical Service of which ONS is part.
The E (Eastern) postcode area, also known as the London E postcode area, is the part of the London post town covering much of east London, England. It borders the N postcode area to the west, both north of the tidal Thames. Since closure of the East London mail centre, its mail is sorted at Romford Mail Centre together with IG and RM postcode areas.
The RM postcode area, also known as the Romford postcode area, is a group of twenty postcode districts in south-east England, within nine post towns. These cover parts of eastern Greater London and south-west Essex. Inward mail for the area is sorted, along with mail for the E and IG postcode areas, at the Romford Mail Centre.
The IG postcode area, also known as the Ilford postcode area, is a group of eleven postcode districts in England, within six post towns. These cover parts of eastern Greater London and south-west Essex.
The SM postcode area, also known as the Sutton postcode area, is a group of seven postcode districts in England, within five post towns. These cover part of south-west London, as well as a small part of north Surrey.
The KA postcode area, also known as the Kilmarnock postcode area, is a group of 30 postcode districts in south-west Scotland, within 23 post towns. These cover East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire.
The DN postcode area, also known as the Doncaster postcode area, is a group of 32 postcode districts in eastern England, within 13 post towns. These cover eastern South Yorkshire, north Lincolnshire, parts of north Nottinghamshire and the south-west of the East Riding of Yorkshire, and a small part of southern North Yorkshire.
The CA postcode area, also known as the Carlisle postcode area, is a group of 28 postcode districts in north-west England, within 22 post towns. These cover northern Cumbria, including Carlisle, Penrith, Workington, Whitehaven, Maryport, Cockermouth, Egremont, Alston, Appleby-in-Westmorland, Beckermet, Brampton, Cleator, Cleator Moor, Frizington, Holmrook, Keswick, Kirkby Stephen, Moor Row, Ravenglass, Seascale, St Bees and Wigton, plus a very small part of Northumberland.
The TR postcode area, also known as the Truro postcode area, is a group of 27 postcode districts in South West England, within 15 post towns. These cover west Cornwall, including Truro, Penzance, Camborne, Falmouth, Hayle, Helston, Marazion, Newquay, Penryn, Perranporth, Redruth, St Agnes, St Columb and St Ives, plus the Isles of Scilly.
The PL postcode area, also known as the Plymouth postcode area, is a group of 35 postcode districts in South West England, within 25 post towns. These cover west Devon and east Cornwall.
The SO postcode area, also known as the Southampton postcode area, is a group of 23 postcode districts in southern England, within nine post towns. These cover south and central Hampshire, including Southampton, Winchester, Alresford, Brockenhurst, Eastleigh, Lymington, Lyndhurst, Romsey and Stockbridge.
The N (Northern) postcode area, also known as the London N postcode area, is the part of the London post town covering part of North London, England. It is a group of 25 postcode districts which covers around 17,429 live postcodes.
The CT postcode area, also known as the Canterbury postcode area, is a group of 21 postcode districts in South East England, within 13 post towns. These cover much of east Kent, including Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone, Birchington, Broadstairs, Deal, Herne Bay, Hythe, Margate, Ramsgate, Sandwich, Westgate-on-Sea and Whitstable.
The BB postcode area, also known as the Blackburn postcode area, is a group of thirteen postcode districts in north-west England, within nine post towns. These cover east Lancashire, including Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington, Barnoldswick, Clitheroe, Colne, Darwen, Nelson and Rossendale.
The HS postcode area, also known as the Outer Hebrides postcode area, is a group of nine postcode districts, within eight post towns, covering the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.
A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all counties of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the census in England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) is responsible for the census in Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) is responsible for the census in Northern Ireland.
The Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) is a unique number for every addressable location—e.g., a building, a bus stop, a post box, a feature in the landscape, or a defibrillator—in Great Britain and can be found in Ordnance Survey's AddressBase databases. Over 42 million locations have UPRNs.
The ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) 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 (OA) and Super Output Areas (SOA) for England and Wales, 2001 Census OAs and SOAs for Northern Ireland and 2001 Census OAs and Data Zones (DZ) for Scotland. It helps support the production of area based statistics from postcoded data.
