NSPL User Guide: UK Postcode Geographic Linkage

May 2022 is the referenced version of this user guide for the National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL). The document provides detailed information on the methodology for assigning administrative and statistical areas to UK postcodes, including data currency, formats, quality, and limitations. It is published by the Government Digital Service and is available on multiple data platforms.

Use Cases

• Understanding the methodology for linking postcodes to administrative areas based on the guide's detailed annexes.
• Assessing data quality and limitations for geographic analysis projects using the NSPL.
• Identifying recent changes impacting postcode-to-area assignments for data currency checks.

Strengths

• Published by the authoritative Government Digital Service, indicating official status.
• Available on multiple data platforms, suggesting broad recognition and use.
• Includes detailed methodology and annexes, as described in the user guide content.

Limitations

• The dataset is a user guide document, not the underlying lookup data itself.
• Metadata for row count, size, license, and author is incomplete or missing across sources.
• Sources list conflicting file sizes (225 KB vs 700 KB) and ambiguous versioning (2022 vs 2026 references).

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Time Range

May 2022

Freshness

Last updated dates range from 2025-08-11 to 2026-06-03, but the core data version referenced is May 2022.

Geography

United Kingdom