7.3.5.1
An LPI which describes an Object as a Postal Address which has its own postbox or letter box must have the appropriate postcode and post town information, as supplied by the Royal Mail AMU. All mail carriers are only licensed to deliver mail to a postbox or letter box. This forms part of the contract when paying for carriage or postage of mail.
7.3.5.2
All postcode and post town information must adhere to the correct formatting regulations outlined by Royal Mail. For full details of these conventions see Appendix E.
7.3.5.3
LPIs without a Postal Address (that is those indicated as POSTAL_ADDRESS = “N”) entered must not contain any values in POSTCODE or POSTTOWN, because they do not receive mail as recognised by Royal Mail. The exception to this rule is if the LPI LOGICAL_STATUS is set to Provisional LPI.
7.3.5.4
If an LPI becomes a Postal Address then the POSTCODE and POSTTOWN values must be obtained from Royal Mail and added to the existing LPI Record.
7.3.5.5
If the PAO or SAO Fields change because the LPI becomes a Postal Address through the SNN process a new Approved Preferred LPI must be created and the existing LPI Record must be reclassified accordingly.
7.3.5.6
The purpose of POSTAL_ADDRESS = “A” and “P” described in this Section is to allow SNN Authorities to add a postcode which is not officially allocated by Royal Mail to the Record.
7.3.5.7
Best Practice is for the POSTCODE and POSTTOWN values to be populated only if those attributes are officially allocated by Royal Mail. However, it is recognised that some SNN Authorities have an operational need to populate those Fields even if the values are not officially allocated.
7.3.5.8
The following codes must be used if the postcode added to an LPI Record is not allocated by Royal Mail:
- POSTAL_ADDRESS = “A”, (indicating an Assumed post town and postcode for the LPI if the LPI describes an existing Postal Address). This code must be used if all of the following conditions apply:
- An LPI is not officially allocated a postcode by Royal Mail.
- An LPI is not officially allocated a name or number by the SNN Authority.
- An Object is next to or within an Object which has a postcode officially allocated by Royal Mail.
- The SNN Authority needs to include the Record in a Postal Address list generated from the LLPG. For more information on generating a postal address from an LLPG, see Section 13.
An example is residential accommodation within a commercial property. In this case, it is sufficient for the Royal Mail to have one entry for the property because the name of the occupier forms part of the Postal Address. There is therefore no need for Royal Mail to have two separate records to distinguish between the commercial and residential parts of the property.
If a postcode is added to a Record which represents a flat within a house which shares a letterbox with other flats, then POSTAL_ADDRESS = “A” must be used. In this case, the Parent BLPU has POSTAL_ADDRESS = “Y”. Additional filtering of the data is required to create a mailing list, see Section13.
- POSTAL_ADDRESS = “P”, (indicating a Pseudo postcode for the LPI if the Object is associated with a postcode in the vicinity of the Object to be described). This code must be used if all of the following conditions apply:
- An LPI does not have an active postcode allocated a postcode by Royal Mail.
- An LPI is not officially allocated a name or number by the SNN Authority.
- An LPI cannot receive mail.
- An Object is in the same postcode area as an Object which has a postcode officially allocated by Royal Mail.
- The SNN Authority needs to indicate that the Object is near to another Object, and understands that postcodes are not geographical identifiers.
For example, a car park next to a shop. In this case, Royal Mail does not have an entry for the land and it is not a Postal Address. However, as some users use the postcode as a search tool within their software, this code shows the reason why a postcode is recorded against the LPI.
If a postcode is added to a Parent Record which does not have an official postcode, then POSTAL_ADDRESS = “P” must be used, for example a tower block which contains flats which have individual postcodes.
If the postcode recorded on the LPI is a large user postcode, then POSTAL_ADDRESS = “L” must be used. A large user postcode is defined by Royal Mail as a unique postcode allocated by Royal Mail to requesting organisations who receive large volumes of mail (at least 1000 items of mail a day) to an individual address for the purposes of segregating their mail. See page 8 - http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/docs/pdf/programmers_guide_edition_7_v5.pdf (accessed February 2016).
7.3.5.9
If a postcode is added to a Record which is not ready to receive mail, POSTAL_ADDRESS = “N” must be used whilst the LPI has LOGICAL_STATUS = 6 - Provisional.
7.3.5.10
LPI Records containing POSTAL_ADDRESS = “N” or “P” must not be used for the generation of a Postal Address from an LLPG, see Section 13.
7.3.5.11
Permitted Postal Address values are shown below:
“Y”
A Postal Address
Mandatory
Mandatory
“N”
Not a Postal Address
No data entered unless LPI LOGICAL_STATUS = 6 - Provisional LPI.
No data entered unless LPI LOGICAL_STATUS = 6 - Provisional LPI.
“A”
An Assumed post town and postcode for the LPI if it describes an Object which can receive mail but the post town and postcode are not officially allocated by Royal Mail. For example bedsits within a house.
Mandatory
Mandatory
“P”
A Pseudo postcode for the LPI if it is an LPI which cannot receive mail. This postcode is allocated by selecting a postcode in the vicinity of the Object. It must not be used as a Postal Address. For example, a car park or an area of land.
No data entered
Mandatory
“L”
Postcode and post town used as a large user Postal Address.
Mandatory
Mandatory