Transparency data

2026 to 2027 devolution postcode dataset guidance

Updated 8 June 2026

Applies to England

Introduction and purpose

We use postcodes in the adult skills fund (ASF) to determine the funding body that funds the learner.

This page describes how we use learner postcodes to determine which funding body is responsible for funding the learner. It is either us, the Department for Education (DfE), or a strategic authority.

Read this information alongside:

• ASF funding and performance management rules
• ASF funding rates and formula
• each strategic authority’s funding rules
• each strategic authority’s funding rates and formula
• individualised learner records (ILR) specification
• ONS Local Authority District to Combined Authority Lookup
• ONS Postcode Directory (PD format datasets)

The adult education budget (AEB) devolution guide contains further information about devolution.

Terminology

The term ‘we’ refers to the Department for Education (DfE).

When we refer to ‘you’ or ‘providers’, this includes:

• colleges
• higher education (HE) institutions
• training organisations
• local authorities -employers that receive funding from us and from strategic authorities to deliver education and training

Where funding has been devolved, we refer to these areas as ‘strategic authorities (SAs)’ or ‘strategic authority areas’.

‘Funding body’ refers to either DfE or the relevant SA that is accountable for funding learners in their area.

Changes from 2025 to 2026

We have added 7 new SAs for 2025 to 2026 to the mapping responsible authorities to area codes table:

• Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority (SOF 124)
• Lancashire Combined County Authority (SOF 125)
• Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (SOF 126)
• Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority (SOF 127)
• Buckinghamshire Council (SOF 128)
• Surrey County Council (SOF 129)
• Warwickshire County Council (SOF 130)

The purpose of postcode data in devolution

We, or an SA, may fund learners eligible for ASF based on the postcode which the learner is resident at when they start their learning. This is based on their ‘learning start date postcode’. Funding will come from the SA that the postcode is in, or we will fund them if the learner’s postcode shows that they do not reside in a devolved area.

For further information on learner eligibility, you should refer to the relevant funding body’s funding rules.

The data that accompanies this guidance lists every postcode in Great Britain and the corresponding authority that is responsible for funding an ASF learner resident at each postcode.

How we will use our postcode data

We use the source of funding (SOF) in the individualised learner record (ILR) to determine which funding body is responsible for funding a learner, assuming they meet other eligibility rules.

We then use the ‘learning start date postcode’ in the ILR, which records where the learner lived at the date they started learning, to validate the source of funding. This ensure the correct SOF matches the expected postcode. We use the postcodes in this data set to support this validation process.

How you can use the data

You can check the area that a postcode falls within. To receive funding for a learner, they must live in an area where you have a contract to provide training.

You can identify which funding body is responsible for funding the learner, subject to eligibility requirements. To return a valid ILR record for a learner, their combination of SOF and learning start date postcode must match a combination found in the postcode dataset. Incompatible combinations of SOF and postcode at learning start date will result in validation errors and no funding.

The field definitions for the column headings in the dataset

Postcode field

The postcode should be used with the ‘effective from’ and ‘effective to’ dates to determine which area and source of funding apply for learners starting their learning on a given date.

As an exception, some postcodes may appear more than once in the postcode data for the same date range, or an overlapping date range. This may happen if the mapping for a postcode moves from one area to another. If this happens, the postcode would be valid in both areas for an overlapping period, and a learner could be valid for funding by either responsible funding body. There might also be cases in future where a postcode straddles a border and both funding bodies agree to fund the learners that are resident in that postcode.

Area field

The area field shows which geographical area a postcode falls within. All distinct areas in the dataset are shown in table 1 in ‘the structure of the dataset’ section.

SA areas are each given an abbreviation in table 1.

Remaining areas outside of devolved regions are indicated as:

• Wales
• Scotland, or
• England Non-Devolved

Table 1: Mapping responsible authorities to area codes

Responsible authority	Area	Source of funding	Effective from	Effective to
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority	LCRCA	111	01/08/2019	-
Greater Manchester Combined Authority	GMCA	110	01/08/2019	-
West Midlands Combined Authority	WMCA	112	01/08/2019	-
Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority	CPCA	115	01/08/2019	-
Tees Valley Combined Authority	TVCA	114	01/08/2019	-
Greater London Authority	London	116	01/08/2019	-
West of England Combined Authority	WECA	113	01/08/2019	-
North East Mayoral Combined Authority	NEMCA	120	01/08/2024	-
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority	SYMCA	118	01/08/2021	-
West Yorkshire Combined Authority	WYCA	119	01/08/2021	-
DfE	England Non-devolved	105	01/08/2019	-
Wales	Wales	-	01/08/2019	-
Scotland	Scotland	-	01/08/2019	-
East Midlands Combined County Authority	EMCCA	121	01/08/2025	-
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority	YNYCA	122	01/08/2025	-
Cornwall Council	Cornwall	123	01/08/2025	-
Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority	HEYCA	124	01/08/2026	-
Lancashire Combined County Authority	LCCA	125	01/08/2026	-
Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority	GLCCA	126	01/08/2026	-
Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority	DTCCA	127	01/08/2026	-
Buckinghamshire Council	Bucks	128	01/08/2026	-
Surrey County Council	Surrey	129	01/08/2026	-
Warwickshire County Council	Warks	130	01/08/2026	-

Source of funding field

The source of funding field corresponds to a valid SOF to record in the ILR.

We will fund postcodes eligible for funding by SOF 105 (Department for Education (DfE - Adult), which is used for the area ‘England Non-Devolved’.

Each active funding body has its own SOF in table 1.

We fund learners from Scotland and Wales only by exceptional agreement, so their SOF is blank.

Effective from field

The effective from field is the earliest date that the postcode is valid for learning start dates with the corresponding area and SOF.

Effective to field

The effective to field is the latest date that the postcode is valid for learning start dates with the corresponding area and SOF. This is left blank where we do not currently know an end date for that funding.

Datasets we publish

We publish a total of 5 files to help you determine which funding body is eligible to fund a learner through ASF.

Complete ASF postcode dataset

The complete ASF postcode dataset is the most significant file as the master file contains every postcode, area and funding body combination. This file is intended for you to import into database systems as it is too large to be opened conventionally using spreadsheet software without using a data import function.

Spreadsheet-friendly [LETTER 1] – [LETTER 2] ASF postcode dataset

The spreadsheet-friendly [LETTER 1] – [LETTER 2] ASF postcode series of files contains every postcode, area and funding body combination in the dataset. This file is intended for you to search using spreadsheet software. These files have been split by the first letter of the postcode to help you find all instances of a postcode and how it is funded in one spreadsheet.

In previous years, these files have only contained non-devolved and non-funded postcodes. However, this year we have added in devolved postcodes to make it easier for you to find every instance of funding related to a postcode from a single search.

Devolved ASF postcode dataset

The devolved ASF postcode dataset file contains a subset of the data, relating only to SAs. This file may contain postcodes that are also valid for funding by DfE in a non-devolved area, but the rows shown will only represent the devolved funded instances of those postcodes.

As funding of devolved areas changes over time, some postcodes may, for example, be DfE funded for one period of time but also funded by one of the SAs for a different period. In this scenario, only the period(s) of devolved funding for that postcode will be included in this file.

How we produce the datasets

We use the publicly available Office for National Statistics (ONS) postcode directory to assess whether postcodes are fundable. This ONS dataset links postcodes to local authorities.

For combined authorities, we use the publicly available mapping set of ONS Local Authority to Combined Authority Lookup to map local authorities to devolved authorities to determine which postcodes are funded by each area. For non-combined authorities, we use local authorities or London boroughs.

We then map local authorities to British countries to determine which postcodes we fund (English non-devolved postcodes), or which we do not typically fund (Welsh and Scottish postcodes), which we do not mark with a source of funding.

There are some special postcodes and non-geographic postcodes which are excluded from our data set or marked without a source of funding.

The ONS publishes this dataset quarterly, and we will update our devolution postcode dataset following ONS publication. The first devolution postcode dataset for each funding year is based on the ONS postcode directory from the May dataset prior to the start of the year.

Exceptions

If a postcode is missing from this dataset, or unknown, then you should follow the guidance in the provider support manual around postcode validation for mandatory fields.

In exceptional circumstances where you believe there is a legitimate case for a learner resident at the postcode to be funded by a funding body not shown in this dataset, you can explore authorisation from the relevant funding body to fund that learner.

If the funding body authorises funding of that learner, you can use a learning delivery funding and monitoring (LDFAM) code in the ILR to record that authorisation. This will override the validation rules that match SOF against postcodes. The type and code are DAM 001. However, to use this DAM code, you must have authorisation from the relevant funding bodies, such as:

- authorisation from the relevant funding body you wish to use, and - authorisation from the relevant funding body that is responsible for funding the postcode

We and the SAs will monitor all use of DAM 001 for compliance, and you must retain evidence of the agreement from the appropriate funding body for use of DAM 001.

In some cases, a postcode does not have a local authority mapping in the ONS dataset. This is usually when the postcode is newly created. Where a postcode does not have a local authority assigned, we will not include it in our dataset. We will include the postcode in in our dataset when it is subsequently mapped by the ONS dataset. However, if a learner living in an unmapped postcode wishes to enrol, the relevant funding body may agree to authorise their funding through a method listed above.

Changes to postcode status

Updates to postcode status are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS receives data from Royal Mail, which publishes updated postcode datasets every 3 months. Therefore, there may be a lag between real-world changes and appropriate changes in ONS data.

Postcode status may change over time, including instances where postcodes are:

• terminated (no longer in use)
• introduced
• reallocated from previously terminated postcodes
• mapped by the ONS to a different local authority

We apply a tolerance around the changes. This is because the devolution postcode dataset is used in ILR validation rules, meaning learner data can be rejected based on the postcode data and because of the time lag before we receive the data. The aim of this is to reduce the cases when validation rules might incorrectly reject a learner whose postcode has changed, or where the data associated with their postcode has changed.

We apply the following approach to postcode changes:

• new postcodes: where a postcode is introduced and entirely new, we set the ‘effective from’ date (in our datasets) as 6 months before the month of the ONS publication that reflected the change
• terminated postcodes: where a postcode is identified as terminated in ONS data, we set the ‘effective to’ date (in our datasets) to 6 months after the month of that ONS publication that reflected the change. Users may identify a suitable replacement postcode (where applicable) using the Royal Mail postcode finder

• changes in local authority mapping: where an existing postcode is mapped to a different local authority, we apply a 6-month tolerance to both:

  • the mapping to the previous authority (‘effective to’ date extends 6 months into the future), and
  • the mapping to the new authority (‘effective from’ date goes back 6 months into the past)

This approach creates overlaps so that, in some cases, a postcode may temporarily be valid in 2 areas at the same time.

Support

We remain responsible for handling enquiries and complaints from:

• providers
• other stakeholders and learners resident in non-devolved areas
• provision DfE is funding or has commissioned

Enquiries and complaints from providers, other stakeholders and from learners that live in devolved areas will be handled by the respective SAs.