Editing Postcode lottery

{{Short description|Unequal provision of services by area}}
{{about|the disparity in services etc. between different geographic areas|other uses}}
{{merge to|Postcodes in the United Kingdom|discuss=Talk:Postcodes in the United Kingdom#Merger proposal|date=April 2025}}
In the [[United Kingdom]], the '''postcode lottery''' is the unequal provision of services such as healthcare, education and insurance prices depending on the geographic area or [[Postcodes in the United Kingdom|postcode]]. Postcodes can directly affect the services an area can obtain, such as [[insurance]] prices. Despite having many non-postal uses, postcodes are only determined based on [[Royal Mail]] operations and bear little relation to local government boundaries. More broadly, there is an unequal provision of services around the country, especially in [[public services]],<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2000/nov/09/NHS | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Q&A: Postcode lottery | first=Patrick | last=Butler | date=2000-11-09 | accessdate=2010-05-22}}</ref> such as access to cancer drugs in the healthcare system<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/2700686/Healthcare-postcode-lottery-means-patients-losing-out-on-cancer-treatments.html | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | title=Healthcare postcode lottery means patients losing out on cancer treatments | first=Kate | last=Devlin | date=2008-09-08 | accessdate=2010-05-22}}</ref> or quality of education.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/postcode-lottery-still-determines-degree-achievement-1805468.html | work=The Independent | location=London | title=Postcode lottery still determines degree achievement | first=Richard | last=Garner | date=2009-10-19 | accessdate=2010-05-22}}</ref> These are more likely to be a result of local budgets and decision-making than actual postcodes.

Postcodes were devised solely for the purposes of sorting and directing mail and rarely coincide with political boundaries. However, over time they have become a geographical reference in their own right with postcodes and postcode groups becoming synonymous with certain towns and districts. Further to this, the postcode has been used by organisations for other applications including government statistics, marketing, calculation of car and household insurance premiums and credit referencing.

== Changing postcodes ==
There are several groups, mostly on the fringes of major population centres, who are affected in one way or another by the associations of their postcode. There is a movement in the [[Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead]] to change the first two characters of their postcodes from {{postcode|SL}} to WM for vanity, so as not to be associated with [[Slough]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2668561.stm |title=England &#124; 'Snobs' want to slough off postcode |publisher=BBC News |date=2003-01-17 |accessdate=2010-01-04}}</ref> A businessman in [[Ilford]] wishes to have the postcode district of {{postcode|IG|1}} changed to {{postcode|E|19}} as he claims customers do not realise his business is based in Greater London.<ref>{{cite news|last=Scrivens |first=Louise |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4409163.stm |title=England &#124; London &#124; The power of the postcode |publisher=BBC News |date=2005-04-05 |accessdate=2010-01-04}}</ref>{{Importance inline|date=November 2024}}

Some residents of West Heath in {{postcode|SE|2}} asked to have their postcodes changed to that of adjacent [[Bexleyheath]], citing higher insurance premiums as reason to change.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/archive/display.var.334327.0.cracking_the_codes_not_easy.php |title=Cracking The Codes Not Easy (from This Is Local London) |publisher=Thisislocallondon.co.uk |date=2002-03-12 |accessdate=2010-01-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526111315/http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/archive/display.var.334327.0.cracking_the_codes_not_easy.php |archivedate=2008-05-26 }}</ref> Some residents of [[Kingston Vale]] in {{postcode|SW|15}} wish to have their postcodes changed to adjacent [[Kingston upon Thames]] for the same reasons{{Citation needed|date=March 2007}}.

In all these cases [[Royal Mail]] has said that there is "virtually no hope" of changing the postcode, referring to their policy of changing postcodes only to match changes in their operations.<ref>{{cite news|last=Scrivens |first=Louise |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4409163.stm |title=UK &#124; England &#124; London &#124; The power of the postcode |publisher=BBC News |date=2005-04-05 |accessdate=2010-01-04}}</ref> Under this policy residents of the [[Wirral Peninsula]] had their postcodes changed from the {{postcode|L}} (Liverpool) to {{postcode|CH}} (Chester) group when a new sorting office was opened.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.thisiswirral.co.uk/1999/09/09/13953.html |title=Postman Pat Gets L Of A Row Off His Chest&nbsp;— This Is Wirral |publisher=Archive.thisiswirral.co.uk |accessdate=2010-01-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927084419/http://archive.thisiswirral.co.uk/1999/09/09/13953.html |archivedate=2007-09-27 }}</ref>

Some postcode areas straddle [[England]]'s borders with [[Wales]] and [[Scotland]]. Examples of such postcodes include {{postcode|CH|4}}, {{postcode|SY|10}}, {{postcode|NP|16}} and {{postcode|TD|15}}. This has led to [[British Sky Broadcasting]] subscribers receiving the wrong BBC and ITV regions, and newly licensed [[amateur radio|radio amateurs]] being given incorrect [[call sign]]s.

== Extended use of postcodes ==
The [[Postal Services Commission]] says the following regarding the extended use of postcodes and the [[Postcode Address File]] (PAF):

{{Cquote|Many organisations&nbsp;– including new postal operators, banks, insurance companies and others offering to deliver goods to your door&nbsp;— have a need for this information. It would be very time-consuming and costly for anyone to try and replicate the list, so Royal Mail licenses PAF data, for a fee, allowing others to use it. ... Although we have a role in ensuring that PAF is managed well, Postcomm does not intervene to resolve disputes involving individual postcodes. A postcode is a routing instruction, allowing a postal operator to sort and deliver mail accurately and efficiently. It is not necessarily a geographically accurate description of where a property is located.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.psc.gov.uk/postcomm/live/factsheets/Royal_Mail_Postcode_Address_File.pdf | title=Royal Mail's Postcode Address File | author=Postal Services Commission | author-link=Postal Services Commission | publisher=Postcomm | date=March 2009 | access-date=2009-08-03 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903230800/http://www.psc.gov.uk/postcomm/live/factsheets/Royal_Mail_Postcode_Address_File.pdf | archive-date=2009-09-03 | url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

== See also ==

* [[Unwarranted variation]]

==References==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Geodemography]]
[[Category:Political geography]]
[[Category:Postcodes in the United Kingdom]]