Comment by mootothemax

I’m happy you’re taking it in the spirit intended :) it’s a trap I frankly despise but that’s cos I’m old and bitter.

The problem being addressed - if you’ll forgive the pun - is that you’re not storing someone’s current address; what you have is their _most recently known to us_ address, which obvs over time can become a problem, least of all if you’re wasting time and money sending undeliverable post. (I have a vague memory of Royal Mail fining bulk delivery users for not pre-screening, not sure if that was a particularly dull dream or not tho).

The thing it’s important to keep in mind is - there is no single nor centrally-held repository of addresses within the UK. I don’t mean about oh mr so-and-so lives at 11 acacia avenue. I mean for just the addresses themselves.

Throw in the mad mixture of Scotland having a separate national statistics agency that’s independent of the ONS, plus Northern Ireland having the same -plus- a separate OS in the form of OSNI, the whole landscape’s set up for pain and failure.