ONS Postcode Directory: UK Geographic Reference Data

ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) User Guide from August 2018, published by the Government Digital Service. The guide describes directory content, data currency, methodology for assigning areas to postcodes, data formats, quality, limitations, and recent changes. The file is 487 KB in size and was last updated on the platform in August 2025.

Use Cases

• Geographic analysis based on the methodology for assigning administrative areas to postcodes.
• Data quality assessment for UK projects based on the described data quality and limitations.
• Understanding temporal changes in UK geography based on the details of recent changes impacting the data.

Strengths

• Includes a user guide detailing methodology, quality, and limitations, which is 487 KB in size.
• Published by the authoritative Government Digital Service and last updated on the platform in August 2025.

Limitations

• The dataset itself is not provided; this entry is a user guide document in HTML format.
• Column-level documentation and sample data are unavailable, requiring inspection of the actual data files.
• The guide references data from August 2018; its currency for current applications should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Administrative data compilation and methodology documentation.

Time Range

Referenced data as of August 2018.

Freshness

Guide references August 2018 data; platform metadata updated 2025-08-11.

Geography

United Kingdom (implied by UK postcodes and ONS source).