Editing Postcode Address File (section)

==Costs and public availability==
Between 2004 and 2006 a consultation was taken about the future management of the PAF.  The proposal to release it for use at low or no cost was rejected, and the business model where it was used to raise money from profitable corporations was retained.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psc.gov.uk/policy-and-consultations/consultations/postcode-address-file--management-of-information.html|title=Postcode Address File – review of the management of PAF|author=PostComm|access-date=5 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120062729/http://www.psc.gov.uk/policy-and-consultations/consultations/postcode-address-file--management-of-information.html|archive-date=20 November 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The accounts for the PAF for 2005/6 disclosed an income of £18million, 8.6% of which was profit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psc.gov.uk/postcomm/live/policy-and-consultations/consultations/postcode-address-file--management-of-information/PAF_decision_doc.pdf|title=Royal Mail's Future management of PAF|date=April 2007|access-date=5 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324084021/http://www.psc.gov.uk/postcomm/live/policy-and-consultations/consultations/postcode-address-file--management-of-information/PAF_decision_doc.pdf|archive-date=24 March 2009|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Following a government consultation,<ref>[http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/ordnancesurveyconsultation DCLG: Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey: Consultation] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230115507/http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/ordnancesurveyconsultation |date=30 December 2009 }}</ref> on 1 April 2010 [[Ordnance Survey]] released co-ordinate data for all Great Britain postcodes (but not their address elements) for re-use free of charge under an attribution-only licence, as part of [[Ordnance Survey#Open data releases|OS OpenData]].