Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF)
Postcode Address File (PAF) is a database containing every UK business & residential address (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man). 29 million addresses for over 1.8 million postcodes.
Full & Partial Postcode Address File Compared
There are two product variations; Full PAF and Partial PAF. The two main differences between these two options being data content. The Full PAF file contains all fields whereas Partial PAF contains every field up to street names (excludes site numbers, names and business names). The Partial PAF file costs considerably less than Full PAF.
Spreadsheet to Compare Full and Partial PAF Products
Product Specifics
- Delivery: Immediate Download / Recorded Delivery
- Fields: (Full Postcode Address File Partial Postcode Address File)
- Format: Comma Separated Variable (CSV) Text File
- Compatibility: MS Access, MS Excel 2007 and any other software application with text import
- Coverage: Every deliverable address (business & residential) UK / Postcode Area.
- Updates: Includes quarterly updates within licensed period.
- Licence: 12 months unlimited use before renewal or deletion required
- Restrictions: Terms & Conditions
PAF Format
Due to the size of PAF (29 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 Layouts Examples
Data Record / Field Layout Table;
Organisation Layout Example
Residential Layout Example
Surname Layout Example
