The National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL) dataset relates current UK postcodes to current statutory administrative, electoral, health, and other statistical geographies. It uses a 'best-fit' allocation from 2021 Census output areas to support the production of area-based statistics from postcoded data. The dataset is produced by ONS Geography and is published by the London Borough of Camden.
Use Cases
- Aggregate customer data into electoral wards based on postcode linkage.
- Map health outcomes to local authority areas based on postcode linkage.
- Calculate regional statistics from postcoded survey responses based on geographic linkage.
Strengths
- Links postcodes to multiple current statutory geographies including administrative, electoral, and health areas.
- Uses 'best-fit' allocation from the 2021 Census, providing a standardized geographic framework.
- Available in multiple formats including CSV, JSON, XML, and RDF.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Freshness should be verified despite the listed last update date of 2026-03-16.
Provenance
- Source
- ONS Geography, Office for National Statistics.
- Collection Method
- 'Best-fit' allocation from 2021 Census output areas.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-03-16 18:03:06.619758.
- Geography
- United Kingdom.