Data Licence Information
PAF®, Postzon and similar datasets are licenced by a supplier, for example Royal Mail, and users must comply with the supplier's terms. We, as providers, must make you aware of these terms and conditions.
Find out about everything related to licencing here, including the current PAF® changes.
View the current licence options.
September 2006 - Notification of staged licence changes over next three years
We would like to advise that after a considerable period of consultation and discussion, Royal Mail has decided to change the method of licensing the Postcode Address File (PAF®). In summary, annual licensing will move from a fixed price per user, capped at 20 users per system, to one in which banded costs are applied and there is no upper limit. Different rules will apply for public access websites. This change was announced on September 1 2006, and will be implemented in three phases.
On September 1 2007 the first price change will occur. In broad terms, the Royal Mail licence fee per user will drop and the cost of a system licence will increase. This means that the point at which a system licence applies will occur for a greater number of users than the current 20. On the same date, the price of the per-click transactions will also change, and the rules governing the use of per-click costing will be tightened.
The second change will take place on September 1 2008. Although we do not yet have the details, we understand that the per-user price will drop further and the system cost will again rise.
The third and final change will take place on September 1 2009 with the abolition of system and multi-system licences and a move to a fully banded pricing system. Again, we do not have the details at this time, but Royal Mail has stated that its objective is to move to a licensing regime which is fairer to entry-level users but on the whole is revenue-neutral.
The prices will come into effect on the renewal date following the changes. Thus if your renewal date is March, then the September 1 2007 prices will apply to your renewal in March 2008 etc.
Accompanying the final change, Royal Mail is terminating all existing licences and requiring a new one to be signed with effect from September 1 2009. We are obliged under the terms of our contract with Royal Mail to notify all of our customers that their agreement with us will cease on that date and must be replaced by a new contract, which we will draw up in due course and when we have the necessary details.
All users of PAF® are affected in exactly the same way, however PAF® is delivered.
If you have any questions, please call our Sales Team on 01508 494488 or email us at
We are representing our customers' needs in licence discussions with Royal Mail through our participation on the PAF® Advisory Board. For copies of the notes and to keep track of progress, see www.pafboard.org.uk.
