Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF)

Postcode Address File (PAF) is a database containing all known addresses and Postcodes in the United Kingdom,  including England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man.  PAF holds over 28 million addresses for over 1.75 million Postcodes.  The PAF file is managed & supplied by the Royal Mail postal service through ourselves as approved Royal Mail suppliers. Please note that the data provided contains no software! 

Postcode Address File (PAF) Licence Details: Your output is supplied under licence to the Royal Mail.  The licence permits 12 months use and once licensed you can apply for free quarterly updates providing your licence remains current.  Terms & Conditions.

Part (Street Level) and Full (Building Level) Options

There are essential two variations for each PAF licence option.  The two main differences between these two options are price where street level data costs considerably less than building level data; and content.  You will generally see the difference in content from the file specifications for each product, although the main difference being street level includes all elements up to the house, site or premise, ie it contains data up to and including street names that buildings sit on.

PAF Layouts Examples

Data Record / Field Layout Table;

Organisation Layout Example;

Residential Layout Example;

Surname Layout Example

PAF Format

Due to the size of PAF (28 million records for the UK), we purposely split the PAF file into 5 output files.  The 5 files are zipped into a single file ready for delivery. The compressed ZIP file will automatically unzip as five Comma Separated Variable (CSV) files.  As a CSV formatted data file, you will find the format compatible with almost any application in the market place including SQL, Word, Excel and Microsoft Access to name but a few. 

PAF Delivery (Direct Link Download / Email / CD - Registered Postal Service Delivery)

Providing you've used a non anonymous email account (e.g. HOTMAIL, GMAIL, LIVE, etc.), an instant link to your purchased PAF file will be provided once payment has been accepted.  If you have no alternative but to use an anonymous email account we will need to verify your transaction during normal business hours which may delay the delivery of your order. 

PAF Updates

Your PAF file will always be provided on 12 months licence terms, starting from the date on which the file was ordered.  You are entitled to free quarterly updates providing you licence remains current.  Not all of our customers exercise this option but if you do require an update then please provide your Order Number and a free download link will be emailed to you within one working day.  You can request your free PAF update here.