Differences between an official and postal address

Part of: Street Naming and Numbering

Contents

Official addresses

We are responsible for issuing the official address. This cannot be issued by Royal Mail. 

An official address, allocated by us, comprises of:

  • Property Number
  • Street Name
  • Geographical Locality

Postal addresses

We notify Royal Mail of the official address from which they create the postal address, which is for their own use for the delivery of mail. They will add the appropriate postal town and postcode and may change or remove the locality:

  • Postal locality
  • Postal town
  • Post code

Differences between addresses

Differences can happen between the official address and a postal address. This is usually because the Geographical Locality and Postal Locality don't match.

We use geographical boundaries for the locality in the official address.

Based on their mail sorting and delivery routes, Royal Mail use:

  • Postal Localities

  • Postal Towns

If there is a difference you can use either the official address or postal address. However we will use the official address and provide this to other organisations.