All About UK Postcodes

Postcodes were introduced in the United Kingdom nearly forty years ago. They have a format with letters corresponding with numbers for different regions. The codes are between five and eight characters long, with a space separating the inward and outward segments. The outward segment denotes the postal district, for example, EH represents Edinburgh.

A full postcode is called a “postcode unit”, and the arrangement of the numbers and letters denote the area, street and buildings where a resident lives. In other words, this can be those most important feature of an address as it quickly and clearly differentiates your home from other homes in the area.

Postcodes are used for many additional purposes to sorting mail. They’re used to calculate insurance premiums, for census information, national health designation and the postcode lottery, which has a Saturday street prize of £10,000. Postcode finders are useful for property buyers eager to find information on the area they’re looking to invest in.

What’s useful about postcodes is that they limit a household to a small collection of properties within a street, part of a street or small village. While the first letter (or pair of letters) in the code represents the area, the second represents the district and so on, giving officials specific information about the property in question.

The inward, or second, segment of the code denotes the specific part of a town or delivery office, with the number indicating a sector and the letters indicating a specific property or properties in the area. This code may only contain letters; however the letters C, I, K, M, O and V are excluded to avoid using letters that, when hand written, can be misconstrued.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) use postcode information to provide users with travel routes to destinations all over the country.

Unlike in the US, where zip codes are free, postcodes are owned by the Post Office, which sells this information to companies who use it for insurance, courier tracking or property sales.

You can access postcode information for property you’re interested in viewing by using an online postcode finder. Simply input the address or street location and receive unrestricted access, along with useful information about the area you’re interested in. Search for postcode information via property websites to find property that’s newly on the market in the area that’s caught your eye.