UK Postcode & Address Lookup API: Batch, Search & Geolocation 🚀

📮 Every UK postcode with its coordinates, local authority, constituency and deprivation rank

Postcode validation, autocomplete, reverse geocoding and batch enrichment for UK-facing teams

🔎 What is the UK Postcode & Address Lookup — and when should you use it?

The UK Postcode & Address Lookup turns UK postcodes, partial postcodes or latitude/longitude points into clean, structured rows you can filter, export and feed straight into a spreadsheet, database or AI agent. No account, no portal API key, no browser automation to maintain.

Use it when you need: a UK postcode checked against the national register, with its latitude and longitude, local authority, ward, 2024 constituency, LSOA, MSOA and deprivation rank. It also covers batches of up to 100 postcodes, postcode-prefix autocomplete, the nearest postcode to a GPS point, and the areas an outcode covers.

Use something else when: you need the homes, listings or sold prices at a postcode rather than the postcode's geography. Use Rightmove Property Scraper for UK homes for sale and to rent, with sold prices. Use Zoopla Property Scraper for UK sale and rental listings with valuations. This actor describes places, not properties or people: it returns no house numbers, street addresses or occupants.

🤖 Use with AI agents

Already connected to the Apify MCP server? Just ask for this Actor by name: sian.agency/uk-postcode-address-lookup

Your agent can pay for its own runs. This Actor is eligible for agentic payments, so an agent can discover it, run it and settle the bill over x402 (USDC on Base) or Skyfire — without an Apify account or API token of its own. Billing is the same either way: per successful row, never for errors.

Otherwise copy this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP-enabled assistant:

I want to resolve UK postcodes to coordinates, local authority, constituency and ONS statistical areas using the Apify Actor `sian.agency/uk-postcode-address-lookup`.

Use it when I need: a UK postcode checked against the national register, with its latitude and longitude, local authority, ward, 2024 constituency, LSOA, MSOA and deprivation rank. It also covers batches of up to 100 postcodes, postcode-prefix autocomplete, the nearest postcode to a GPS point, and the areas an outcode covers.

Don't use it when: you need the homes, listings or sold prices at a postcode rather than the postcode's geography — use rightmove-property-scraper or zoopla-property-scraper instead.

How to call it: pick one `operation`. Use "lookup" with `postcode` for one full postcode, "batch" with `postcodes` for up to 100, "search" with `postcode` for the start of a postcode (autocomplete), "reverse" with `latitude` and `longitude` for the nearest postcode (add `wideSearch: true` for rural points), or "outcode" with `postcode` for the first half of a postcode.

Start with this input:
{
  "operation": "batch",
  "postcodes": [
    "SW1A 1AA",
    "EH1 1YZ",
    "M1 1AE"
  ]
}

Ask me for the postcodes, postcode prefix or coordinates to resolve, and which fields matter most, then run the Actor and summarise the results as a table.

Things you can ask your agent for:

• Add the local authority, ward and constituency to these 87 customer postcodes.
• Give me the deprivation rank and LSOA for every postcode in this service-user list.
• Which postcode is nearest to 56.9, -4.5? It is out in the Highlands, so search wide.

Machine-readable API, MCP config and OpenAPI definition for this Actor are published at apify.com/sian.agency/uk-postcode-address-lookup.md.

📋 Overview

UK postcodes come from Ordnance Survey, Royal Mail and ONS files that are a chore to download, join and keep current. This actor has already done that. Send it a postcode, a list of up to 100, the start of a postcode, or a latitude/longitude, and you get one clean row per postcode back.

It suits teams that check addresses at signup, geocode deliveries, or join ONS statistics such as LSOA and the Index of Multiple Deprivation onto their own data.

Why teams use it:

• ✅ Official open data: the same Ordnance Survey, ONS and Royal Mail sources behind the national postcode register
• ⚡ Five operations in one actor: single lookup, batch of 100, postcode search, reverse geocoding and outcode districts
• 🎯 Around 20 fields per row: lat/lng, eastings/northings, country, region, local authority, ward, county, 2024 constituency, LSOA, MSOA, NUTS area, NHS area and deprivation rank
• 💰 Pay per resolved postcode: $0.004, falling to $0.002 on higher Apify plans. A mistyped or retired postcode gets a row explaining why and costs nothing
• 💎 No API key: nothing to sign up for or rotate

✨ Features

• 📮 Postcode Lookup: one postcode in, its full record out. Spacing and capitals are fixed for you
• 📦 Batch of 100: paste a list and get one row per postcode. Duplicates are dropped before anything is charged
• 🔍 Postcode Search: every postcode that starts with what you typed (SW1A, SW1A 1), up to 100 matches, for autocomplete
• 📍 Reverse Geocode: the nearest postcode to any UK latitude/longitude, with the distance in metres. Looks within 2 km, or 20 km with wide search on
• 🗺️ Outcode Districts: the centre point of the first half of a postcode, plus every local authority, ward and constituency it touches
• 📊 ONS statistical areas: LSOA, MSOA and NUTS on every row, ready for demographic joins
• 🏥 Deprivation rank and NHS area: the Index of Multiple Deprivation rank and NHS area for each postcode
• 🗳️ 2024 constituency boundaries wherever the record has them
• 🧾 Itemised charges: each run's report shows exactly which events you paid for

🎬 Quick Start

Open the actor, pick an operation, type a postcode and press Start. The first row comes back in a couple of seconds.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/sian.agency~uk-postcode-address-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"operation":"lookup","postcode":"SW1A 1AA"}'

🚀 Getting Started (3 Simple Steps)

Step 1: Pick your operation

Choose Lookup, Batch, Search, Reverse or Outcode in the input form.

Step 2: Give it something to look up

One postcode, a list of up to 100, the start of a postcode, or a latitude/longitude pair.

Step 3: Run and export

Rows land in the dataset. Export them as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read them over the API.

What you get back:

• Each postcode with its latitude and longitude
• Local authority, ward, constituency and country
• LSOA, MSOA, NHS area and deprivation rank

📥 Input Configuration

Field	Type	Required	Description
operation	string	Yes	One of: lookup, batch, search, reverse, outcode
postcode	string	For lookup, search and outcode	A full postcode, the start of one, or an outcode
postcodes	array	For batch	Up to 100 UK postcodes
latitude	number	For reverse	WGS84 latitude
longitude	number	For reverse	WGS84 longitude
limit	integer	No	Search only: how many matches to return, 1 to 100 (default 10)
wideSearch	boolean	No	Reverse only: look up to 20 km away instead of 2 km

Single lookup:

{
  "operation": "lookup",
  "postcode": "SW1A 1AA"
}

Batch (up to 100):

{
  "operation": "batch",
  "postcodes": ["SW1A 1AA", "EH1 1YZ", "M1 1AE"]
}

Reverse geocode a rural point:

{
  "operation": "reverse",
  "latitude": 56.9,
  "longitude": -4.5,
  "wideSearch": true
}

📤 Output

Each row is one postcode. The main fields:

Field	Type	Description
postcode	string	Normalised postcode (e.g. SW1A 1AA)
latitude / longitude	number	WGS84 coordinates of the postcode centre
eastings / northings	number	OS Grid coordinates in metres
country / region	string	England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, and the English region
adminDistrict / adminWard	string	Local authority and electoral ward
parliamentaryConstituency	string	Constituency, 2024 boundaries
lsoa / msoa / nuts	string	ONS statistical areas
ccg	string	NHS area
imdRank	number	Index of Multiple Deprivation rank within its nation (1 = most deprived)
distanceMeters	number	Reverse only: metres from your point to the postcode
query	string	The postcode, search term or "lat,lng" this row answers
status	string	success or error
errorMessage	string	Error rows only: why the input did not resolve

Example row (a real lookup):

{
  "postcode": "SW1A 1AA",
  "outcode": "SW1A",
  "incode": "1AA",
  "latitude": 51.50101,
  "longitude": -0.141563,
  "country": "England",
  "region": "London",
  "adminDistrict": "Westminster",
  "adminWard": "St James's",
  "parliamentaryConstituency": "Cities of London and Westminster",
  "lsoa": "Westminster 018C",
  "msoa": "Westminster 018",
  "ccg": "NHS West and North London",
  "imdRank": 24862,
  "status": "success"
}

💼 Use Cases & Examples

1. Checkout autocomplete

Online shops suggest real postcodes while the shopper types.

Input: the start of a postcode ("SW1A 1") Output: up to 100 matching postcodes with their coordinates and local authority Use: feed the matches into your address form's dropdown

2. Address validation and cleaning

Data teams check messy CRM postcodes against the national register.

Input: a batch of up to 100 postcodes in any spacing or case Output: normalised postcodes with local authority, ward and constituency, plus a row explaining each one that did not resolve Use: scheduled runs over signup or import queues

3. Geocoding for delivery zones

Operations teams turn postcodes into coordinates for maps and routing.

Input: postcodes, one or a batch Output: lat/lng plus OS Grid eastings/northings Use: plot customers, draw delivery catchments, feed a routing engine

4. Reverse geocoding from app coordinates

Field-service and delivery apps often have a GPS pin and need the postcode.

Input: a latitude/longitude pair Output: the nearest postcode, the distance in metres and its full record Use: turn GPS pings into postcodes for reporting

5. Deprivation and small-area analysis

Public-sector and charity analysts join deprivation data to their own postcode lists.

Input: a batch of postcodes from your service records Output: deprivation rank, LSOA, MSOA and ward for each Use: funding bids, service planning and equity audits

6. Territory planning

Sales teams map districts to local authorities and constituencies.

Input: outcodes such as M1 or SW1A Output: each outcode's centre point and every local authority, ward and constituency it covers Use: allocate territories and plan field visits

🔗 Integration Examples

JavaScript/Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('sian.agency/uk-postcode-address-lookup').call({
  operation: 'lookup',
  postcode: 'SW1A 1AA'
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items[0]);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient('YOUR_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('sian.agency/uk-postcode-address-lookup').call(
    run_input={'operation': 'batch', 'postcodes': ['SW1A 1AA', 'M1 1AE']}
)

for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(item)

cURL

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/sian.agency~uk-postcode-address-lookup/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"operation":"search","postcode":"SW1A","limit":5}'

Automation Workflows (N8N / Zapier / Make)

1. Trigger: a schedule or a webhook
2. HTTP Request: call the actor API with your batch
3. Process: read the JSON rows from the dataset
4. Action: update your CRM, validate a signup, or load a warehouse table

📊 Performance & Pricing

FREE plan

• 25 resolved postcodes per run, with every field
• No credit card needed
• Enough to test and to handle small lookups

Paid plans

• No row cap: batches of 100 per run, as many runs as you need
• Charged per resolved row only, never for rows that did not resolve
• The per-row price drops automatically on higher Apify plans

💰 $0.004 per resolved postcode, falling to $0.002 on higher Apify plans, plus a small start fee per run

🔗 View current pricing

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many postcodes can I process? A: On the free plan, 25 resolved rows per run. On paid plans, batches of 100 per run and as many runs as you like.

Q: Which parts of the UK are covered? A: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Q: Can I search by street or town name? A: No. Search matches the start of a postcode, such as SW1A or SW1A 1. To find a postcode from coordinates, use reverse geocoding.

Q: What does the deprivation rank mean? A: It is the Index of Multiple Deprivation rank of the postcode's small area within its own nation, where 1 is the most deprived. Ranks from different nations are not comparable, because each nation publishes its own index.

Q: What output formats are available? A: JSON, CSV and Excel, exported straight from the Apify dataset.

Q: How current is the data? A: It follows the national postcode register releases, including the 2024 constituency boundaries.

Q: Is my data private? A: Postcodes are looked up and returned to your dataset. They are not shared with anyone else.

Q: How long does a run take? A: A few seconds. A single lookup takes about two, and a full batch of 100 is still one request.

Q: What about retired postcodes? A: They get a row saying the postcode did not resolve, and you are not charged for it.

🐛 Troubleshooting

A postcode you know exists comes back "not found"

• Check for extra characters. Spacing and capitals are fixed for you, but stray letters are not
• The postcode may have been retired. Search its outcode (for example SW1A) to see the live ones nearby

Search returns nothing

• Search only matches the start of a postcode. A street or town name will not match
• Try a shorter prefix, such as the outcode alone

Reverse geocode finds no postcode

• By default it looks within 2 km. Turn on wide search to look up to 20 km away
• Check the point is in the UK. Points at sea return a row explaining that nothing was found

Batch stopped at 100

• One run resolves at most 100 postcodes. Run the next 100 in another batch

⚖️ Is it legal to scrape data?

This actor returns UK open data. It reads no personal data: a postcode row describes a place, not a person.

Attribution, as the data licences require: Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right. Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right. Contains NRS data © Crown copyright and database right.

Great Britain postcode data is used under the OS OpenData licence. Northern Ireland postcodes (those starting "BT") fall under the ONSPD licence, which requires a licence from NI Land & Property Services for commercial use; if you use BT rows commercially, check that you hold one.

If you combine these rows with your own customer data, that combined data may be personal data under the GDPR and similar laws, and you are responsible for handling it lawfully. You can also read Apify's blog post on the legality of web scraping.

🤝 Support

• Found a bug or want a feature? Open an issue on the actor's Issues tab
• See the SIÁN Agency Store for more automation tools
• ✉️ apify@sian-agency.online

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