An alphanumeric code defined by the post office, which can identify properties to a location. Since their introduction postcodes have been used for a number of other purposes including assessing premiums for household insurance.
A minimum five character alphanumeric code used by the post office to identify the postal area, district and sector within the district. Postcodes can be separated into Outcodes and Incodes. These are best explained using a postcode EX4 6DW. Outcode EX4 is the outcode, comprised of the postal area (EX) and the district (4). Incode 6DW is the Incode. (6) represents a district sector, the last characters identify a group of addresses within the sector. Postcodes can represent a maximum of 100 addresses although the average number is 15.
a code of letters and digits added to a postal address to aid in the sorting of mail
Postal code used for all UK addresses.
There are approximately 140,000 postcodes in Scotland although new ones are being added regularly by the Royal Mail. A full postcode such as "EH6 6SU" is referred to as a postcode unit. On average, there are 15 households within every postcode unit in Scotland. They generally represent very small areas, although they can be much larger in sparsely populated areas. For more information about postcodes see the Geography section of the Area Data Guide.
An alphanumeric code defined by the post office, which can identify properties to a location of within a handful of dwellings. Since their introduction they have been used for many purposes including assessing premiums for household insurance.
Royal Mail maintains a UK-wide system of postcodes to identify postal delivery areas. Most people know their postcode so ONS are able to use this as their main geographic reference when collecting data. This reference can be related to any geographic unit used for statistical production, such as a district or electoral ward. For more information please click here
Used in the routing of mail, the Postcode ensures that mail can be directed to the most appropriate delivery walk. The Postcode is composed of an Outcode (Area + District) and an Incode (Sector + Unit). When used with the Delivery Point Suffix it creates a unique reference that can be translated to a barcode for Mailsort contract holders. There are usually about 15 Delivery Points in a Postcode record with a maximum of 100 Delivery Points. Combined with the premise name or number it can be used to create a unique reference for every delivery point (letterbox) in the UK.
An alphanumerical code issued by the Royal Mail to help identify particular geographical areas. Usually a single code will be used for approximately 15 properties but may occasionally relate to an individual property.