Why does my QAS product return the wrong/no UK county?

Summary

This document explains why QAS products either do not return the correct county information, or return no county information at all. It also suggests possible ways around this issue.

Why does no county information get returned?

Why is incorrect/old county information being returned?

What are the possible alternatives to get around this?

The future

Solution

Why does no county information get returned?

QAS products do not return counties in two circumstances:

• For certain postcodes
• If they have been configured to not return them.

Why is incorrect/old county information being returned?

Introduction

The question of what county should be returned with an address or that the ‘wrong’ county has been returned from a QAS product has become more frequent.

This paper aims to outline the history regarding county name changes and explain the difficulty in finding one universally accepted county name.

Terminology

The terms Local Authority County, and Administrative County, are synonymous. These counties are based on current Local Government Geography. These terms are used to refer to the top tier of Local Government in force in any given place. This can be a Metropolitan Authority (Kensington and Chelsea), a Unitary Authority (North East Lincolnshire), or a County Council (Hertfordshire). County Councils are now only found in certain parts of England. Metropolitan Authorities and Unitary Authorities both have the legal powers of a County Council.

The terms Ceremonial County, Traditional County, and Historical County, are synonymous. In practice these terms will be used to refer to the Admin counties in use prior to the Local Government re-organisation of 1974.

The terms PAF County, and Postal County, are synonymous. This is the county found in the county field of PAF addresses, but has not been updated by Royal Mail for several years. For some postcodes, the PAF County is an out-of-date Admin County (e.g., Avon, which no longer exists). For other postcodes, it is a ceremonial county (e.g., Middlesex).

History

When PAF was constructed some 25+ years ago, the Local Authority County was included within the address. This was based upon the way that the UK was divided into County Councils and included such Counties as Middlesex and Rutland.

In the major reorganisation of 1974, Middlesex, Rutland, and Huntingdonshire were all abolished. New non-metropolitan counties were created, such as Avon, Cleveland, and Humberside. In Scotland and Wales the changes were even more drastic. All existing counties in Wales (such as Flintshire, Monmouthshire etc) and in Scotland (such as Ayrshire, Angus etc), were replaced by completely new counties or regions. Wales had new counties like Dyfed and Gwent, while Scotland had new regions like Central and Highland.

Metropolitan Authorities were also introduced. They were grouped under Metropolitan County Councils such as the Greater London Council. The Metropolitan County Councils were disbanded in 1986. Thus, many people think of London Boroughs as being in Greater London, but Greater London no longer exists as an administrative county.

The next reorganisation began in 1995, and was completed in April 1998. The intention was to give more autonomy to some places by according them the legal status of counties. They are now known as Unitary Authorities. Unitary Authorities often have names that contain "shire", e.g. Flintshire.

On April 1st 1996, every county in Wales, and every region in Scotland, was abolished. Four 1974 counties in England (Cleveland, Humberside, Isle of Wight, and Avon) were also completely abolished, along with their district councils.

But the reorganisation doesn't end there. Parts of some other counties have also become Unitary Authorities (this particularly applies to some big cities). To illustrate, the city of York is now a U.A., and completely independent from the county of North Yorkshire, of which it used to be a part and which still exists, containing Harrogate, Scarborough etc.

Sometimes, Unitary Authorities are autonomous islands within areas controlled by County Councils. For example, the U.A. of Southampton is completely independent of Hampshire County Council.

Problems

There can be a problem when some customers who live within a Unitary Authority decide to put the name of their Unitary Authority in the County field of their address. This makes sense with, for example, Flintshire. Flintshire was a county until 1974, when it was subsumed into Clwyd as part of the major local government reorganisation. In April 1996, Clwyd was abolished, and replaced by several Unitary Authorities, one of which is called Flintshire, though it’s unknown whether the boundary is the same as it was prior to 1974.

Contrast this with Avon. This "county" was created in 1974, and abolished again in April 1996, being replaced by Unitary Authorities. One of these is called Bath and North East Somerset. It would be unwise to use this in the county field of ones address, as it might lead to something like:

1 High Street, Bath, Bath and North East Somerset, BA1 1AA

Royal Mail Counties

Since there are several sets of counties including postal, local authority and historic, Royal Mail decided to remove counties from its PAF file in December 2000 to avoid confusion. The data files QAS construct from PAF still include counties, which are now known as former postal counties.

Why does Experian QAS use ‘Former Postal Counties’?

Due to the nature of our business we always aim to obtain data from nationally recognised sources. So, for example, we source postal data from Royal Mail, and we source names data from the government’s Electoral Roll. In this manner we can guarantee to our customers that they are getting reliable and legal information. For address purposes counties are no longer needed, but Experian QAS include them as they may provide useful data for the customer.

What are the possible alternatives to get around this?

Do not return a county

If there is a risk of offending someone by using the ‘wrong’ county, it may be better not to return a county at all. QAS products may be configured to return a county if it appears in PAF only or not at all.

Royal Mail no longer need a county presented in an address so long as the town and postcode are correct, which using QAS products would be the case.

In certain circumstances use different counties

The other types of counties are available as DataPlus sets that may be added to most QAS products; for example tier of local government above Ward level such as county, metropolitan or unitary council.

Note that DataPlus sets are licensed separately and you should contact your account manager for details.

The future

The issue is more that one uses the ‘right’ county for a particular address. Most people agree that exclusively using any one of the three contenders; former postal, traditional and administrative is not the answer.

Some national body will need to decide, following suitable consultation, which one of the three should be used in each circumstance. This national body would be either Royal Mail or an organisation recognised by Royal Mail and the data would be provided to us under their auspices. To date, we are not aware of any such nationally recognised body.