Young participation by area

September 2023

Download the September 2023 postcode look-up data (ZIP, 135 MB)

September 2022

Download the September 2022 postcode look-up data

September 2021

Download the September 2021 postcode look-up data

See the September 2021 summary of changes to the postcode look-up.

March 2021

Download the March 2021 postcode look-up data

See the March 2021 notes that accompanied this data on updates since the previous published version.

2020

Download the September 2020 data in CSV format (zipped due to size).

See the September 2020 notes that accompanied this data on updates since the previous published version.

Download the January 2020 data in CSV format (zipped due to size).

See the January 2020 notes that accompanied this data on updates since the previous published version.

2019

Download the September 2019 data in CSV format (zipped due to size)

Note, Northern Ireland postcodes were not included in this dataset for licensing reasons.

See the notes that accompanied this data on updates since the previous published version.

Download the September 2019 experimental TUNDRA data in CSV format

See the September 2019 notes for analysis of this measure looking at small population sizes.

2018

Download the October 2018 data in CSV format (zipped due to size)

See the notes that accompanied this data on updates since the previous published version.

This data release was published in September 2024. It supersedes the previous postcode look-up dataset published in September 2023.

This release uses updated Office for National Statistics (ONS) Postcode Directory (ONSPD) and National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL) data from May 2024. The ONSPD and NSPL lists all postcodes in the UK, and links them to higher geographies. Find out more about ONS postcode products.

Northern Ireland postcodes are subject to a separate licensing agreement. This release uses the January 2024 Northern Ireland Central Postcode Directory.

This note describes the annual update to our postcode look-up data, which consists of two parts:

• Postcode look-up data download. This data is available in CSV and Excel format and includes the area-based measure quintiles and other detailed information associated with UK postcodes. Extensive notes are provided as part of the data download. This data can be downloaded at the top of this page.
• Postcode look-up tool. This tool uses the updated postcode look-up data and allows users to search a single postcode to discover the quintiles associated with the postcode across a range of our measures. You will also see the postcode’s position on a map. The tool can be found on our ‘Search by postcode’ page. The information displayed by the postcode look-up tool can also be found in the data download.

Any questions or feedback related to these changes should be sent to [email protected].

Summary of annual update

We have added 13,645 new postcodes to the look-up.

Each year we update our postcode look-up data to account for new postcodes and changes to existing postcodes by comparing the ONSPD and NSPL from May of the current year with versions of the ONSPD and NSPL from previous years. Our updated look-up excludes any Northern Ireland postcodes not covered by our current licensing agreement.

For most of our current measures, we use the middle layer super output areas (MSOAs) statistical geographic area (SGA) derived from the census in 2011. For TUNDRA LSOA, we use the 2011 SGA, lower layer super output areas (LSOAs). For more information on statistical geographies please see the ONS geography portal.

When we calculated our measures, each SGA was assigned a quintile. The process for assigning a quintile to new postcodes is:

1. When a postcode is created, it is added to one of the 2011 SGAs by the designated body (ONS for England and Wales)
2. We assign all new postcodes the quintile for the SGA it has been added to

Our older measures use the CAS ward SGA from the 2001 census, but the above process for new postcodes is the same.

In addition to new postcodes a small number of previously terminated postcodes may be re-used each year and assigned to a new set of addresses. When this occurs, the designated body will re-allocate SGAs to these postcodes. In our look-up if the new SGAs have the same quintile for our measures, then they will keep that quintile. This is to maintain consistency with our previous publications where possible. However, if the postcode has been allocated to an SGA with a different quintile, then this postcode is denoted as R in our data to indicate that the quintile information has been removed. This is determined for each of our measures separately.

Postcodes can also change the SGA they are assigned to between iterations of the ONS postcode products without having been reused. This can occur for two reasons:

1. Surveys of new postcode areas indicate that the original assignment was incorrect.
2. Demolition or new builds of addresses assigned to an existing postcode moves the central point of the postcode into a different SGA

When this happens, we report the area-based measure quintile from the original area. This is to minimise the changes to our area-based measures when compared with earlier publications. We include various SGA fields in the data download to allow users to identify where this has occurred. For example, MSOA current identifies the MSOA that a postcode is assigned to in the latest ONS postcode product and MSOA TUNDRA identifies the MSOA that it was originally assigned to. If a postcode’s status is not re-used, then when these are different the postcode has moved MSOA without being reused.

This data release was published in September 2023. It supersedes the previous postcode look-up dataset published in September 2022.

This release uses updated Office for National Statistics (ONS) Postcode Directory (ONSPD) and National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL) data from May 2023. The ONSPD and NSPL lists all postcodes in the UK, and links them to higher geographies. Find out more about ONS postcode products.

Northern Ireland postcodes are subject to a separate licensing agreement. This release uses the January 2023 Northern Ireland Central Postcode Directory.

This note describes our annual update to our postcode look-up data, which consists of two parts:

• Postcode look-up data download. This data is available in CSV and Excel format and includes the area-based measure quintiles and other detailed information associated with UK postcodes. Extensive notes are provided as part of the data download. This data can be downloaded at the top of this page.
• Postcode look-up tool. This is a tool that allows users to search a single postcode to discover quintiles associated with the postcode and see where the postcode is found within the area used to assign the quintiles. It contains detailed descriptions of the different measures and what the tool was designed to do. By design the tool can search only one postcode at a time. The tool can be found on our ‘Search by postcode’ page. The information displayed in the postcode look-up tool is a subset of the postcode look-up data download.

Any questions or feedback related to these changes should be sent to [email protected].

Summary of annual update

We have added 15,447 new postcodes to the look-up.

Each year we update our postcode look-up data to account for new postcodes and changes to existing postcodes by comparing the ONSPD and NSPL from May of the current year with versions of the ONSPD and NSPL from previous years.

Newly created postcodes are assigned quintiles using the following method. First, geographical areas are assigned a quintile as per our calculations when creating the measures. Second, all the postcodes within that area are assigned that quintile. As such, all the postcodes within an area will have the same quintile. The geographical area used varies depending on the measure in question. Our older measures (POLAR3, Adult HE 2001, Gaps) used CAS wards, while our newer measures (POLAR4, TUNDRA MSOA, Adult HE 2011) use 2011 middle layer super output areas (MSOAs). Our TUNDRA LSOA measure uses 2011 lower layer super output areas (LSOAs).

For consistency, it is important that the quintile associated with a postcode does not change year-on-year. However, due to postcodes being reused and sometimes moving to different areas, it is possible for a postcode to be assigned to an area with a certain quintile one year but to a different area with a different quintile another year. Where a postcode has been reused and moved to an area with a different quintile, instead of being assigned this new quintile the postcode is assigned an ‘R’ to denote it has been reused and moved to an area with a different quintile. If a postcode has been reused and kept in the same area or reused and moved to an area that is assigned the same quintile as the original area, then the postcode will keep its quintile. This is because, despite this reuse, the quintile assigned to the postcode has been consistent and at no point in the past was the postcode assigned a different quintile. Our data download includes ‘Reason removed flags’ which detail if and why a postcode has had its area-based measure quintile set to ‘R’ instead of a number. This information is also displayed in our postcode look-up tool.

The assignment of postcodes to areas sometimes changes between versions of the ONSPD and NSPL without the postcode being reused. When this happens, we report the area-based measure quintile based on the original area. This minimises the changes to our area-based measures when compared with earlier publications. We include various area fields in the data download to allow users to see the current area of the postcode (e.g. MSOA current) and the area when the quintile of the postcode was assigned (e.g. MSOA TUNDRA).

This data release was published in September 2022. It supersedes the previous postcode look-up dataset published in September 2021.

This release uses updated Office for National Statistics (ONS) Postcode Directory (ONSPD) and National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL) data from May 2022. The ONSPD and NSPL lists all postcodes in the UK, and links them to higher geographies. For more information see ons.gov.uk/methodology/geography/geographicalproducts/postcodeproducts.

Northern Ireland postcodes are subject to a separate licensing agreement. This release uses the January 2022 Northern Ireland Central Postcode Directory, see: nisra.gov.uk/support/geography/central-postcode-directory).

Any questions or feedback related to these changes should be sent to [email protected].

Summary of changes

We have added 15,992 new postcodes to the look-up.

We no longer include our Adult HE 2001 measure in our postcode look-up data download. This decision was made because this measure is based on data recorded over 20 years ago and we are not aware of it still being used. The more recent Adult HE 2011, produced using 2011 census outputs is still available in the data download and look-up tool. We encourage any users still using the Adult HE 2001 data to contact William Rimington at [email protected].

We no longer include our CAS ward-based measures (POLAR3, Gaps, Gaps Ethnicity or Uni Connect Target ward) in our postcode look-up tool. These measures can still be accessed in our data download. However, we are not aware of these measures being accessed via our postcode look-up tool. Accordingly, the map showing CAS ward boundaries has also been removed from the postcode look-up tool. If this has impacted users, please let us know by contacting William Rimington at [email protected].

POLAR3 has been removed from our ‘Maps of participation in higher education’ from our interactive maps. The CAS ward to POLAR3 quintile data can still be accessed on our ‘About POLAR and Adult HE’ webpage, under the “Archived measures” section.

• September 2021 changes to the postcode look-up