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OAs were specifically designed to have a strong relationship with postcode geography.  Census 2001 enumerated postcodes were the building blocks used in the construction of OAs.  Only where postcodes straddled ward, parish (England), and community (Wales) boundaries, were they split into more than one OA polygon.  This affected approximately 2.5% of all enumerated unit postcodes.

The boundary set that resulted was irregular, but the postcode foundations of the geography were considered important for data linkage purposes.

As with administrative geographies, postal geography moves around over time.  It is a convenient, rather than ideal, geography for statistical purposes.  Ideally data records would be geo-referenced to addresses or grid references, and lookups from these would be easy to produce and distribute.  But further progress in this direction is still needed.  The desire has not yet proved strong enough to facilitate necessary data developments.

In proposing a policy of stability, we are also proposing that the postcode to OA link be allowed to degrade, as it has done with every postcode update since the last Census.  What if this meant that 10% of Census 2011 enumerated postcodes were split between OA polygons?

Can we start to look beyond our reliance on the postcode?