This User Guide contains information about the ONSUD including: directory content; data currency; the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes; data formats; data quality and limitations and details of recent changes that have impacted on the data. Various annexes and tables provide more detailed supporting information. The download includes PDF and ODT versions of the user guide. (File size - 356 KB)

This User Guide contains information about the ONSPD including: directory content; data currency; the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes; data formats; data quality and limitations and details of recent changes that have impacted on the data. Various annexes and tables provide more detailed supporting information. The download includes PDF and ODT versions of the user guide. (File size - 823 KB)

This User Guide contains information about the ONSUD including: directory content; data currency; the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes; data formats; data quality and limitations and details of recent changes that have impacted on the data. Various annexes and tables provide more detailed supporting information. The download includes PDF and ODT versions of the user guide. (File size - 356 KB)

This file contains the ONS Address Directory (ONSAD) for Great Britain as at January 2017. The ONSAD relates the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) for each GB address from AddressBase® Epoch 45 to a range of current statutory administrative, electoral, health and other statistical geographies. The ONSAD is produced by ONS Geography, who provide geographic support to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and geographic services used by other organisations. The ONSAD is issued every 12 weeks and is designed to complement the Ordnance Survey AddressBase® product. For further technical information about this file, please refer to the User Guide document contained within the downloadable zip file. Please note that this product contains Royal Mail, Gridlink, Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights. (File Size - 401 MB)

(File Size - 432 MB) Click on the title for more details and to download the file.

Price quote data (for locally collected data only) and consumption segment indices that underpin consumer price inflation statistics, giving users access to the detailed data that are used in the construction of the UK’s inflation figures. The data are being made available for research purposes only and are not an accredited official statistic. From October 2024, private school fees and part-time education classes have been included in the consumption segment indices file. For more information on the introduction of consumption segments, please see the Consumer Prices Indices Technical Manual, 2019. Note that this dataset was previously called the consumer price inflation item indices and price quotes dataset.

This User Guide contains information about the ONSUD including: directory content; data currency; the methodology for assigning areas to postcodes; data formats; data quality and limitations and details of recent changes that have impacted on the data. Various annexes and tables provide more detailed supporting information. The download includes PDF and ODT versions of the user guide. (File size - 291 KB)

Open data for Northern Ireland principal and variant projections. Single year of age and sex with underlying data.

This is the ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) for the United Kingdom as at May 2025 in Comma Separated Variable (CSV) and ASCII text (TXT) formats. This file contains the multi CSVs so that postcode areas can be opened in MS Excel. To download the zip file click the Download button. The ONSPD relates both current and terminated postcodes in the United Kingdom to a range of current statutory administrative, electoral, health and other area geographies. It also links postcodes to 2001 Census Output Areas (OA) and Super Output Areas (SOA) for England and Wales, 2001 Census OAs and SOAs for Northern Ireland and 2001 Census OAs and Data Zones (DZ) for Scotland. It also contains 2021 Census OAs and SOAs for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2022 Census OAs DZs and Intermediate Zones (IZ) for Scotland. It helps support the production of area-based statistics from postcoded data. The ONSPD is produced by ONS Geography, who provide geographic support to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and geographic services used by other organisations. The ONSPD is issued quarterly. (File size - 234 MB) Please note that this product contains Royal Mail, Gridlink, LPS (Northern Ireland), Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights.

This file contains the ONS UPRN Directory (ONSUD) for Great Britain as at March 2024. The ONSUD relates the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) for each GB address from AddressBase® Epoch 108 to a range of current statutory administrative, electoral, health and other statistical geographies. The ONSUD is produced by ONS Geography, who provide geographic support to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and geographic services used by other organisations. The ONSUD is issued every 6 weeks and is designed to complement the Ordnance Survey AddressBase® product. For further technical information about this file, please refer to the User Guide document contained within the downloadable zip file. Please note that this product contains Royal Mail, Gridlink, Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights. (File Size - 498 MB)

The Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) is a longitudinal survey, which aims to address gaps identified in data about the economic well-being of households by gathering information on level of assets, savings and debt; saving for retirement; how wealth is distributed among households or individuals; and factors that affect financial planning. Private households in Great Britain were sampled for the survey (meaning that people in residential institutions, such as retirement homes, nursing homes, prisons, barracks or university halls of residence, and also homeless people were not included).

The WAS commenced in July 2006, with a first wave of interviews carried out over two years, to June 2008. Interviews were achieved with 30,595 households at Wave 1. Those households were approached again for a Wave 2 interview between July 2008 and June 2010, and 20,170 households took part. Wave 3 covered July 2010 - June 2012, Wave 4 covered July 2012 - June 2014 and Wave 5 covered July 2014 - June 2016. Revisions to previous waves' data mean that small differences may occur between originally published estimates and estimates from the datasets held by the UK Data Service. Data are revised on a wave by wave basis, as a result of backwards imputation from the current wave's data. These revisions are due to improvements in the imputation methodology.

Note from the WAS team - November 2023:

“The Office for National Statistics has identified a very small number of outlier cases present in the seventh round of the Wealth and Assets Survey covering the period April 2018 to March 2020. Our current approach is to treat cases where we have reasonable evidence to suggest the values provided for specific variables are outliers. This approach did not occur for two individuals for several variables involved in the estimation of their pension wealth. While we estimate any impacts are very small overall and median pension wealth and median total wealth estimates are unaffected, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of the pension wealth within the wealthiest decile, and data derived from them. We are urging caution in the interpretation of more detailed estimates.”

Survey Periodicity - "Waves" to "Rounds"
Due to the survey periodicity moving from “Waves” (July, ending in June two years later) to “Rounds” (April, ending in March two years later), interviews using the ‘Wave 6’ questionnaire started in July 2016 and were conducted for 21 months, finishing in March 2018. Data for round 6 covers the period April 2016 to March 2018. This comprises of the last three months of Wave 5 (April to June 2016) and 21 months of Wave 6 (July 2016 to March 2018). Round 5 and Round 6 datasets are based on a mixture of original wave-based datasets. Each wave of the survey has a unique questionnaire and therefore each of these round-based datasets are based on two questionnaires. While there may be some changes in the questionnaires, the derived variables for the key wealth estimates have not changed over this period. The aim is to collect the same data, though in some cases the exact questions asked may differ slightly. Detailed information on Moving the Wealth and Assets Survey onto a financial years’ basis was published on the ONS website in July 2019.

A Secure Access version of the WAS, subject to more stringent access conditions, is available under SN 6709; it contains more detailed geographic variables than the EUL version. Users are advised to download the EUL version first (SN 7215) to see if it is suitable for their needs, before considering making an application for the Secure Access version.

Further information and documentation may be found on the ONS "https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/methodologies/wealthandassetssurveywas" title="Wealth and Assets Survey"> Wealth and Assets Survey webpage. Users are advised to the check the page for updates before commencing analysis.

Occupation data for 2021 and 2022 data files

The ONS have identified an issue with the collection of some occupational data in 2021 and 2022 data files in a number of their surveys. While they estimate any impacts will be small overall, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of some detailed (four-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)) occupations, and data derived from them. None of ONS' headline statistics, other than those directly sourced from occupational data, are affected and you can continue to rely on their accuracy. For further information on this issue, please see: https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/occupationaldatainonssurveys.

The data dictionary for round 8 person file is not available.

Latest edition information

For the 20th edition (May 2025), the Round 8 data files were updated to include variables personr7, nounitsr8 and porage1tar8, and derived binary versions of multi-choice questions, their collected equivalents and imputed binary versions of these variables. Also, variables that were only collected for part of the round have been removed. Additional documentation for Round 8 was also added to the study, including an updated variable list and derived variable specifications.

TRAINING DATASET: Hands-On Formatting Data Part 2 (Download This File)

Open data for Great Britain and England and Wales principal and variant projections. Single year of age and sex with underlying data.

This document explains how postcodes are allocated to a range of geographies on which statistics are published. It explains the main differences in how postcodes are allocated between our two main postcode products, the NSPL and the ONSPD. (File Size - 519 KB)

Statistics on the number of file applications in various units of the Ministry of Interior 1

Excel Age-Range creator for Office for National Statistics (ONS) Mid year population estimates (MYE) covering each year between 1999 and 2014

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These files take into account the revised estimates for 2002-2010 released in April 2013 down to Local Authority level and the post 2011 estimates based on the Census results. Scotland and Northern Ireland data has not been revised, so Great Britain and United Kingdom totals comprise the original data for these plus revised England and Wales figures.

This Excel based tool enables users to query the single year of age raw data so that any age range can easily be calculated without having to carry out often complex, and time consuming formulas that could also be open to human error. Simply select the lower and upper age range for both males and females and the spreadsheet will return the total population for the range. Please adhere to the terms and conditions of supply contained within the file.

Tip: You can copy and paste the rows you are interested in to another worksheet by using the filters at the top of the columns and then select all by pressing Ctrl+A. Then simply copy and paste the cells to a new location.

ONS Mid year population estimates

Open Excel tool (London Boroughs, Regions and National, 1999-2014)

Also available is a custom-age tool for all geographies in the UK. Open the tool for all UK geographies (local authority and above) for: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

This full MYE dataset by single year of age (SYA) age and gender is available as a Datastore package here.

Ward Level Population estimates

Excel single year of age population tool for 2002 to 2013 for all wards in London.

New 2014 Ward boundary estimates

This data is only for wards in the three London boroughs that changed their ward boundaries in May 2014. The estimates in this spreadsheet have been calculated by the GLA by taking the proportion of a the old ward that falls within the new ward based on the proportion of population living in each area at the 2011 Census. Therefore, these estimates are purely indicative and are not official statistics and not endorsed by ONS.

The Business Structure Database (BSD) contains a small number of variables for almost all business organisations in the UK. The BSD is derived primarily from the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), which is a live register of data collected by HM Revenue and Customs via VAT and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. The IDBR data are complimented with data from ONS business surveys. If a business is liable for VAT (turnover exceeds the VAT threshold) and/or has at least one member of staff registered for the PAYE tax collection system, then the business will appear on the IDBR (and hence in the BSD). In 2004 it was estimated that the businesses listed on the IDBR accounted for almost 99 per cent of economic activity in the UK. Only very small businesses, such as the self-employed were not found on the IDBR.

The IDBR is frequently updated, and contains confidential information that cannot be accessed by non-civil servants without special permission. However, the ONS Virtual Micro-data Laboratory (VML) created and developed the BSD, which is a 'snapshot' in time of the IDBR, in order to provide a version of the IDBR for research use, taking full account of changes in ownership and restructuring of businesses. The 'snapshot' is taken around April, and the captured point-in-time data are supplied to the VML by the following September. The reporting period is generally the financial year. For example, the 2000 BSD file is produced in September 2000, using data captured from the IDBR in April 2000. The data will reflect the financial year of April 1999 to March 2000. However, the ONS may, during this time, update the IDBR with data on companies from its own business surveys, such as the Annual Business Survey (SN 7451).

The data are divided into 'enterprises' and 'local units'. An enterprise is the overall business organisation. A local unit is a 'plant', such as a factory, shop, branch, etc. In some cases, an enterprise will only have one local unit, and in other cases (such as a bank or supermarket), an enterprise will own many local units.

For each company, data are available on employment, turnover, foreign ownership, and industrial activity based on Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)92, SIC 2003 or SIC 2007. Year of 'birth' (company start-up date) and 'death' (termination date) are also included, as well as postcodes for both enterprises and their local units. Previously only pseudo-anonymised postcodes were available but now all postcodes are real.

The ONS is continually developing the BSD, and so researchers are strongly recommended to read all documentation pertaining to this dataset before using the data.

Linking to Other Business Studies
These data contain IDBR reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.

Latest Edition Information
For the sixteenth edition (March 2024), data files and a variable catalogue document for 2023 have been added.

This file contains the ONS UPRN Directory (ONSUD) for Great Britain as at August 2021. The ONSUD relates the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) for each GB address from AddressBase® Epoch 86 to a range of current statutory administrative, electoral, health and other statistical geographies. The ONSUD is produced by ONS Geography, who provide geographic support to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and geographic services used by other organisations. The ONSUD is issued every 6 weeks and is designed to complement the Ordnance Survey AddressBase® product. For further technical information about this file, please refer to the User Guide document contained within the downloadable zip file. Please note that this product contains Royal Mail, Gridlink, Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights. (File Size - 658 MB)

The NTEM SynthPop project required open data, as per OGL License (v1.0).

The data register:

data_register:
geography_msoa_ew:
description: MSOA boundaries, 2021.
geography: MSOA
region: England and Wales
last accessed: 10/06/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::middle-layer-super-output-areas-december-2021-boundaries-ew-bsc-v2/about
notes: (BSC) Super generalised (200m) - clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).
path: "MSOA_2021_EW_BSC_V2.gpkg"
source: Open Geography Portal
year: 2021
geography_iz_sc:
description: Proposed IZ boundaries, 2022.
geography: IZ
region: Scotland
last accessed: 19/08/2024
link: https://scotgov.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=90bf46cbf2254e80820a98d815c8fbcf
notes: Proposed Intermediate Zones 2022 Boundaries - for consultation
path: "Proposed_IZ_2022_Boundaries.zip"
source: "Scotland Census"
year: 2022
geography_oa_ew:
description: OA boundaries, 2021.
geography: OA
region: England and Wales
last accessed: 24/06/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::output-areas-december-2021-boundaries-ew-bgc-v2/about
notes: (BGC) Generalised (20m) - clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).
path: "boundaries/Output_Areas_2021_EW_BGC_V2.gpkg"
source: Open Geography Portal
year: 2021
geography_lad_2018_gb:
description: LAD boundaries, 2018.
geography: LAD
region: England, Wales and Scotland
last accessed: 19/11/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::local-authority-districts-december-2018-boundaries-gb-bfc-2/about
notes: This file contains the digital vector boundaries for Local Authority Districts in Great Britain, as at December 2018.
path: "boundaries/LAD_Dec_2018_Boundaries_GB_BFC_2022_544341751432792127.gpkg"
source: Open Geography Portal
year: 2018
geography_msoa_population_weighted_centroids_ew:
description: Population-weighted centroids for MSOA boundaries.
geography: MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 31/05/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk
notes: "This file contains the digital population weighted centroids for Middle layer Super Output Areas for England and Wales as at 31 December 2021. The centroids were created using Full Resolution, Extent of the Realm boundaries. Contains both Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights."
path: "boundaries/Middle_Super_Output_Areas_DEC_2021_EW_PWC.gpkg"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
geography_msoa_2011_2021_ew_lookup_best_fit:
description: Lookup table between 2011 and 2021 MSOA boundaries and 2022 Local Authority Districts (best fit).
geography: MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 31/05/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk
notes: "A best fit lookup file between Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) as at December 2011 and MSOAs as at December 2021 in England and Wales. The lookup contains all the 2011 MSOAs (7,201) and these are point-in-polygon to the 2021 MSOA full extent boundaries (which contains 7,182 records, so 82 MSOAs are missing from the 2021 MSOAs)."
path: "boundaries/MSOA_(2011)_to_MSOA_(2021)_to_Local_Authority_District_(2022)_Best_Fit_Lookup_for_EW_(V2).csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
geography_msoa_2011_2021_ew_lookup_exact_fit:
description: Lookup table between 2011 and 2021 MSOA boundaries and 2022 Local Authority Districts (exact fit).
geography: MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 31/05/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk
notes: >
This is an exact fit lookup file between Middle layer Super Output Areas as at December 2011 and Middle layer Super Output Areas as at December 2021 and Local Authority Districts as at December 2022 in England and Wales. This product has been provided with a change indicator field, that define the lookup between 2011 and 2021 MSOA. This field indicates which output areas / super output areas have changed between 2011 and 2021. This version 2 has had some changes to the change indicator field where splits have gone to complexes in under 10 MSOAs. There are four designated categories to describe the changes, and these are as follows:
U - No Change from 2011 to 2021. This means that direct comparisons can be made between these 2011 and 2021 MSOA.
S - Split. This means that the 2011 MSOA has been split into two or more 2021 MSOA. There will be one record for each of the 2021 MSOA that the 2011 MSOA has been split into. This means direct comparisons can be made between estimates for the single 2011 MSOA and the estimates from the aggregated 2021 MSOA.
M - Merged. 2011 MSOA have been merged with another one or more 2011 MSOA to form a single 2021 MSOA. This means direct comparisons can be made between the aggregated 2011 MSOAs’ estimates and the single 2021 MSOA’s estimates.
X - The relationship between 2011 and 2021 MSOA is irregular and fragmented. This has occurred where 2011 MSOA have been redesigned because of local authority district boundary changes, or to improve their social homogeneity. These can’t be easily mapped to equivalent 2021 MSOA like the regular splits (S) and merges (M), and therefore like for like comparisons of estimates for 2011 MSOA and 2021 MSOA are not possible.'
path: "boundaries/MSOA_(2011)_to_MSOA_(2021)_to_Local_Authority_District_(2022)_Lookup_for_England_and_Wales.gpkg"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
lookup_msoa_2021_region_ew:
description: Lookup between 2021 Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA), built up areas (BUA), local authority districts (LAD) and regions (RGN) (best fit).
geography: MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 24/06/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::msoa-2021-to-bua-to-lad-to-region-december-2022-best-fit-lookup-in-ew-v2/about
notes: "A best fit lookup file between Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) as at December 2011 and MSOAs as at December 2021 in England and Wales. The lookup contains all the 2011 MSOAs (7,201) and these are point-in-polygon to the 2021 MSOA full extent boundaries (which contains 7,182 records, so 82 MSOAs are missing from the 2021 MSOAs)."
path: "boundaries/MSOA_(2021)_to_Built-up_Area_to_Local_Authority_District_to_Region_(December_2022)_Lookup_in_England_and_Wales_v2.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
lookup_oa_2011_oa_2021_ew:
description: Lookup between 2011 Output Areas (OA11) and 2021 Output Areas (OA21).
geography: OA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 28/08/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::oa-2011-to-oa-2021-to-local-authority-district-2022-exact-fit-lookup-in-ew-v2/about
notes: "This is an exact-fit lookup file between Output Areas as at December 2011 and Output Areas as at December 2021 and Local Authority Districts as at December 2022 in England and Wales."
path: "boundaries/OA11_OA21_LAD22_EW_LU_Exact_fit_V2_7175137222568651779.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
lookup_oa_2021_msoa_2021_ew:
description: Lookup between Output Areas (OA 2021) and Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA 2021).
geography: OA, MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 28/08/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::output-area-2021-to-lsoa-to-msoa-to-lad-december-2021-exact-fit-lookup-in-ew-v3/about
notes: "A lookup between Output Areas (OA), Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOA), Middle layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) and Local Authority Districts (LAD) as at 31 December 2021 in England and Wales."
path: "boundaries/Output_Area_to_Lower_layer_Super_Output_Area_to_Middle_layer_Super_Output_Area_to_Local_Authority_District_(December_2021)_Lookup_in_England_and_Wales_v3.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
census_households_oa_2021_ew:
description: TS041-oa - Number of Households (output areas).
geography: OA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 07/08/2024
link: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/output/census/2021/census2021-ts041.zip
notes: Number of Households (oa).
path: "census_2021/census2021-ts041-oa.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
ruc_oa_ew:
description: Rural / Urban classification at Output Area (OA) level.
geography: OA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 07/08/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/53360acabd1e4567bc4b8d35081b36ff/about
notes: "This file provides a rural-urban view of 2011 Output Areas (OA) in England and Wales."
path: "ruc/RUC11_OA11_EW.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
geography_ntem:
description: NTEM zoning system.
geography: NTEM
region: GB
path: "..."
year: 2021
template_populationsim:
description: Template PopulationSim set up.
geography: MSOA
region: GB
path: "template_populationsim"
source: PopulationSim repo & Arup
year: 2021
nts_persons:
description: Individuals table from the National Travel Survey for the period 2002-2022.
geography: Region
region: England, Wales & Scotland
path: "nts/individual_eul_2002-2022.tab"
nts_households:
description: Households table from the National Travel Survey for