Postcode lottery

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In the United Kingdom, the postcode lottery is the unequal provision of services such as healthcare, education and insurance prices depending on the geographic area or postcode. Postcodes can directly affect the services an area can obtain, such as insurance prices. Despite having many non-postal uses, postcodes are only determined based on Royal Mail operations and bear little relation to local government boundaries. More broadly, there is an unequal provision of services around the country, especially in public services, [1] such as access to cancer drugs in the healthcare system [2] or quality of education. [3] These are more likely to be a result of local budgets and decision-making than actual postcodes.

Contents

Postcodes were devised solely for the purposes of sorting and directing mail and rarely coincide with political boundaries. However, over time they have become a geographical reference in their own right with postcodes and postcode groups becoming synonymous with certain towns and districts. Further to this, the postcode has been used by organisations for other applications including government statistics, marketing, calculation of car and household insurance premiums and credit referencing.

Changing postcodes

There are several groups, mostly on the fringes of major population centres, who are affected in one way or another by the associations of their postcode. There is a movement in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to change the first two characters of their postcodes from SL to WM for vanity, so as not to be associated with Slough. [4] A businessman in Ilford wishes to have the postcode district of IG1 changed to E19 as he claims customers do not realise his business is based in London. [5]

Some residents of West Heath in SE2 asked to have their postcodes changed to that of adjacent Bexleyheath, citing higher insurance premiums as reason to change. [6] Some residents of Kingston Vale in SW15 wish to have their postcodes changed to adjacent Kingston upon Thames for the same reasons[ citation needed ].

In all these cases Royal Mail has said that there is "virtually no hope" of changing the postcode, referring to their policy of changing postcodes only to match changes in their operations. [7] Under this policy residents of the Wirral Peninsula had their postcodes changed from the L (Liverpool) to CH (Chester) group when a new sorting office was opened. [8]

Some postcode areas straddle England's borders with Wales and Scotland. Examples of such postcodes include CH4, SY10, NP16 and TD15. This has led to British Sky Broadcasting subscribers receiving the wrong BBC and ITV regions, and newly licensed radio amateurs being given incorrect call signs.

Extended use of postcodes

The Postal Services Commission says the following regarding the extended use of postcodes and the Postcode Address File (PAF):

Many organisations – including new postal operators, banks, insurance companies and others offering to deliver goods to your door — have a need for this information. It would be very time-consuming and costly for anyone to try and replicate the list, so Royal Mail licenses PAF data, for a fee, allowing others to use it. ... Although we have a role in ensuring that PAF is managed well, Postcomm does not intervene to resolve disputes involving individual postcodes. A postcode is a routing instruction, allowing a postal operator to sort and deliver mail accurately and efficiently. It is not necessarily a geographically accurate description of where a property is located. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Postcodes in the United Kingdom Postal codes used in the UK, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies

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The W postcode area, also known as the London W postcode area is a group of postcode districts covering part of central and part of West London, England. The area originates from the Western (W1) and Paddington (W2-14) districts of the London postal district. This area covers 35 postcode districts and around 18,554 live postcodes.

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Postal counties of the United Kingdom Subdivision of the United Kingdom

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The Postcode Address File (PAF) is a database that contains all known "Delivery Points" and postcodes in the United Kingdom. The PAF is a collection of over 29 million Royal Mail postal addresses and 1.8 million postcodes. It is available in a variety of formats including FTP download and compact disc, and was previously available as Digital Audio Tape. As owner of the PAF, Royal Mail is required by section 116 of the Postal Services Act 2000 to maintain the data and make it available on reasonable terms. A charge is made for lookup services or wholesale supply of PAF data. Charges are regulated by Ofcom. It includes Small User Residential, Small User Organisation and Large User Organisation details. There have been requests as part of the Open Data campaign for the PAF to be released by the government free of charge.

The E (Eastern) postcode area, also known as the London E postcode area, is the part of the London post town covering much of the east of Greater London, England as well as Sewardstone and Sewardstonebury, Essex. 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.

A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system. Including the correct post town in the address increases the chance of a letter or parcel being delivered on time. Post towns in general originated as the location of delivery offices. As of 2004, their main function is to distinguish between localities or street names in addresses not including a postcode.

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. Inward mail for the area is sorted, along with mail for the E and RM postcode areas, at the Romford Mail Centre.

The EC postcode area, also known as the London EC postal area, is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes almost all of the City of London and parts of the London Boroughs of Islington, Camden, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Westminster. The area covered is of very high density development. Deliveries for the EC postcode area are made from Mount Pleasant Mail Centre.

The WC postcode area, also known as the London WC postcode area, is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. The area covered is of high density development, and includes parts of the City of Westminster and the London Boroughs of Camden and Islington, plus a very small part of the City of London.

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 WD postcode area, also known as the Watford postcode area, is a group of eleven postcode districts in Greater London and Hertfordshire, within seven post towns. These cover south-west Hertfordshire, plus very small parts of Buckinghamshire and the London Borough of Hillingdon.

The NW postcode area, also known as the London NW postcode area, is a group of 13 postcode districts covering around 13,895 live postcodes within part of northwest London, England. It is the successor of the NW sector, originally created as part of the London postal district in 1856.

The RG postcode area, also known as the Reading postcode area, is a group of thirty postcode districts in England, within twelve post towns. These cover west and central Berkshire and north Hampshire, plus a small part of south-east Oxfordshire and very small parts of Buckinghamshire and Wiltshire.

The CH postcode area, also known as the Chester postcode area, is a group of 37 postcode districts in north-west England and north-east Wales, which are subdivisions of thirteen post towns. These districts cover west Cheshire, south-west Merseyside and east Flintshire.

The L postcode area, also known as the Liverpool postcode area, is a group of postcode districts in north-west England, which are subdivisions of four post towns. These cover most of Merseyside, part of west Lancashire and a small part of north-west Cheshire.

The SL postcode area, also known as the Slough postcode area, is a group of ten postcode districts in South East England, within eight post towns. These cover east Berkshire and south Buckinghamshire, plus a very small part of south-west Hertfordshire.

The SW postcode area, also known as the London SW postcode area, is a group of 20 postcode districts within the London post town in England. The area comprises the South Western operational district and the Battersea operational district, and is the only area within the London post town to lie on both sides of the River Thames.

The Postal Services Commission, known as Postcomm, was a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom charged with overseeing the quality and universal service of post in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2000 under the Postal Services Act 2000. Postcomm was merged into the communications regulator Ofcom on 1 October 2011.

References

  1. ↑ Butler, Patrick (2000-11-09). "Q&A: Postcode lottery". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  2. ↑ Devlin, Kate (2008-09-08). "Healthcare postcode lottery means patients losing out on cancer treatments". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  3. ↑ Garner, Richard (2009-10-19). "Postcode lottery still determines degree achievement". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  4. ↑ "England | 'Snobs' want to slough off postcode". BBC News. 2003-01-17. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  5. ↑ Scrivens, Louise (2005-04-05). "England | London | The power of the postcode". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  6. ↑ "Cracking The Codes Not Easy (from This Is Local London)". Thisislocallondon.co.uk. 2002-03-12. Archived from the original on 2008-05-26. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  7. ↑ Scrivens, Louise (2005-04-05). "UK | England | London | The power of the postcode". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  8. ↑ "Postman Pat Gets L Of A Row Off His Chest — This Is Wirral". Archive.thisiswirral.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  9. ↑ Postal Services Commission (March 2009). "Royal Mail's Postcode Address File" (PDF). Postcomm. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
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