Terms and conditions of supply

Under the terms of the Open Government Licence and UK Government Licensing Framework (launched 30 September 2010), if you wish to use or re-use ONS material, whether commercially or privately, you may do so freely without a specific application for a licence, subject to the conditions of the Open Government Licence and the Framework. If you are reproducing ONS content you must include a source accreditation to ONS.

We create a number of products that include the intellectual property rights (IPR) of other organisations; you should be aware of third-party rights and any need for licences. In these cases you should use the appropriate attribution/copyright statement(s).

You need the following licences for each category of product issued by us, complete with the appropriate attribution/copyright statement:

Digital boundaries and reference maps:

Digital boundary products and reference maps are supplied under the Open Government Licence. You must use the following copyright statements when you reproduce or use this material:

  • Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0
  • Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right [year]

Lookups (excluding address and postcode lookups)

Lookup products are supplied under the Open Government Licence. You must use the following copyright statement when you reproduce or use this material:

  • Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0

Postcode products (including postcode lookups)

Our postcode products (derived from Code-Point® Open) are subject to the Open Government Licence.

If you also use the Northern Ireland data (postcodes starting with “BT”), you need a separate licence for commercial use direct from Land and Property Services. We only issue a Northern Ireland End User Licence (for internal business use only) with the data. To download a copy, go to the “Download” section of this page. Use of the Northern Ireland data contained within the ONS postcode products constitutes acceptance of the Northern Ireland licensing terms and conditions.

Copyright and reproduction

You may re-use this information (not including logos or Northern Ireland data) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the relevant data owners' licence. In addition, the following attribution statements must be acknowledged or displayed whenever the owners data is used:

  • Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right [year]
  • Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right [year]
  • Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0

Address products (including address lookups)

Our address products (derived from AddressBase®) are subject to the Open Government Licence.

The data in AddressBase® is provided by GeoPlace, a limited liability partnership between the Local Government Group and Ordnance Survey.

Copyright and reproduction

You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the relevant data owners' licence. In addition, the following attribution statements must be acknowledged or displayed whenever the owners' data is used:

  • Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right [year]
  • Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and Database right [year]
  • Contains GeoPlace data © Local Government Information House Limited copyright and database right [year]
  • Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0