About Postcode Council
The lookup is free on gov.uk. Which council does what afterwards is the hard part
What is on this site
One question, "postcode to council lookup", answered with a checker that works on the page with no account, 4 guides on the questions around it, a data table you can cite (the figures and their method), and the sources every figure rests on.
- Two-tier councils explained: why two councils cover one postcode: In much of England a county council and a district council both cover you. What each does, and the three services that appear in both lists.
- Which council for which service, service by service: Bins, roads, schools, planning, social care, licensing and the rest, allocated to a tier, with the ones people most often misdirect flagged.
- Parish, community and town councils: what they can actually do: The most approachable council in a village holds the fewest powers. The specific list, what it cannot decide, and where it is genuinely useful.
- Postcode to council lookup, and where the boundary problems are: The free lookup is on gov.uk and it is the right tool. Where a postcode genuinely straddles a boundary, and what to do when the answer looks wrong.
Reach us
Contact for a question about the site, or enquiries@postcodecouncil.co.uk. The legal terms are on Terms and Privacy.
Postcode Council is an independent site operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to gov.uk, the Office for National Statistics, any local authority or any government body. It does not operate a postcode lookup: the official one on gov.uk is free, authoritative and the right tool, and a copy of a public dataset that nobody refreshes would be worse than the original. What this site adds is which council handles which service once the lookup has named them. Every service list here is quoted from gov.uk's own guidance and read on the date shown at the top of the page. Local government structure changes as areas reorganise, so check that date before relying on a tier split, and where a bill or the electoral register disagrees with a lookup, the council named on the bill is the reliable answer.