Royal Mail’s UK Postcode Address File (PAF)

This instant download contains all circa. 32,429,796 million Postcode Address File (PAF) addresses / delivery points.  That’s every known address and postcode in the UK.   Addresses within the file are updated quarterly to ensure they remain current, and our clients receive an inclusive complete refresh every three months as part of the service, for no additional fee.

The file covers every known delivery point for all UK addresses, as defined by Royal Mail, for every one of the 125 postcode areas (UB Uxbridge, B Birmingham, CV Coventry etc.).  This UK database is without any contention the definitive most up-to-date and complete address universe available for the UK.

If 32 million records are too much for your needs, and you do not require building numbers or house names, Royal Mail’s ‘part’ PAF file might be for you.  Part PAF excludes Premise Numbers and House Names reducing the size to 1.9 million records.

Changes 

In a typical month the PAF file of 32 million records can change considerably.  For example the January 2023 file has had 72,509 changes consisting of 8,566 amendments, 20,988 deletions, and 42,955 additional addresses.  Breakdown here: 012024_PAF Stats

Applications

The Royal Mail’s 32 million record Postcode Address File (PAF), is often used to capture, create and or maintain & clean in-house address lists.  This includes WEB registrations, forms and customer databases to reduce the number of returned or undelivered items from mailing programs.  Obviously, there are many more applications that you can use the PAF data for, including mailing, planning, leaflet distribution, logistics, navigation to name just a few!  This PAF download is the only official address database, and is provided by Royal Mail.   It is without any doubt the definitive, most up-to-date, and comprehensive address database available.

• Clean addresses
• Cheaper source as a mailing file
• Reduce postage costs through bulk mailing (e.g. Mailsort)
• Reduce the amount of undelivered mail
• Preservation of brand image
• Improved accuracy of customer and prospect analysis
• Great for analysis
• Perfect for grid referencing

Output

To make the Royal Mail’s UK PAF download more accessible, we have divided the 32 million record universe into five more manageable Comma Separated Variable (CSV) files: (1) 7,452,186 addresses within the AB-DA postcode area range, (2) 7,190,979 addresses within the DD-KY postcode area range, (3) 7,594,319 addresses within the L-PE postcode area range, (4) 7,100,784 addresses within the PH-TN postcode area range, (5) 3,091,528 addresses within the TQ-ZE postcode area range. You’ll initially receive one compressed file (ZIP) which will decompress into the files above.  If you require the data supplied in another format then we will be more than happy to try and accommodate you at no extra cost.

Data fields present within the product file:

• UDPRN (Royal Mail Unique Reference Number)
• Organisation Name (blank if residential address)
• Department Name (blank if residential address)
• PO Box (if applicable)
• Building / House Name (if applicable)
• Sub Building Name (if applicable)
• Building / House Number
• Thoroughfare
• Street / Road Name
• Double Dependent Locality
• Dependent Locality
• Post Town
• Postcode
• Postcode Type
• DPS
• SU Organisation Flag (blank if residential)

There is an alternatively priced version to the same file which includes grid references.

Coverage

Royal Mail’s UK Postcode Address File contains approximately 32 million delivery points / addresses; that’s every known UK delivery point / address.   This product excludes Royal Mail’s Multiple Residence file (MRES) and Not Yet Built file (NYB) products, which can be purchased separately.  So when ordering, please consider adding Royal Mail’s Multiple Residence file (contains an additional 727,000 residences / premises that are located ‘behind’ a delivery point / address found on the PAF file) and or Royal Mail’s Not Yet Built file  (contains addresses that are either in the planning stage, or building stage).

Licensing

Downloads are supplied as licensed products, allowing unlimited reuse of the file content for 12 months.    You may cancel the licence at any time without penalty.  The licence fee you pay covers the considerable effort taken to compile, and update the product, including our manual correction and verification, updates, and finally, verification against the latest Royal Mail and if applicable Ordnance Survey databases. On or before the 11th month, we will write to you, offering to extend the licence for a further 12 months or to let it expire.