Method List

Find A Person

Search the edited electoral roll, the phone book, Companies House data and consumer data for a person

The majority of websites, apps and CRM systems use name and address data. It’s vital that this data is as accurate as possible for many reasons such as speeding up the user journey and validating purchases.

Our API method to find a person searches a vast UK dataset including the edited electoral roll, phone book data, Companies House and consumer data.

How it works

The method returns a list of names and addresses for UK residents that match your search criteria, when the following data is supplied:

  • a name and/or address
  • a partial name and/or address

Supplying an address only will return all occupants at that address. Additional optional parameters can also be supplied to the method such as age and gender.

Please see the Documentation section for more detailed information on all mandatory and optional parameters, as well as a list of all returned values.

Person search demo

A demo of the person_search method can be found in the Demo section. Alternatively, you can see the T2A person search in action on ukphonebook.com.

API method to use: person_search
|
Credits per use: 10

Searches the edited electoral register, phone book, companies house and consumer data for a UK resident.

Enter a name and/or address, or a partial name and/or address to find all UK residents matching your search criteria.

Mandatory Parameters

Name Description
api_key or javascript_key Use your API key if invoking server-side. If invoking from the browser via JavaScript, generate a JavaScript key using the javascript_key method.

Optional Parameters

Name Description
client You can optionally include an identifier for your final client or user. This is logged in your usage log and you will be able to view your usage statistics by client.
output Set to json for a JSON response; the default response is XML. Not applicable to the SOAP API.
callback When using JSON, specify a JSONP wrapper in which the JSON response is to be wrapped.
records_per_page Specify the number of records to return on the current page. We offer page caching for this method - once your search is invoked, we store the pages on our server for 60 minutes; a subsequent request for a page of results from that search is displayed from the cache, at no charge to you. See result page caching.
page_num Zero based integer - current page number to return.
name

The person's name, for example:-

Mr John D Fawcett
J Fawcett
Fawcett
Fawcett, John

Do not specify this if you wish to do an address-only search.

T2A will parse the name into the relevant components.
name2

The name of a 2nd resident

The person_search method allows you to search for records where name and name2 are found at the same address.

T2A will parse the name into the relevant components.
forename

The person's forename, for example:-
John, J or Janet

To make the person_search more flexible we allow you to input the components of a name (forename, middleinitial and lastname) separately. Do not use these distinct parameters if you have specfied a name.
middleinitial

The person's middle initial, this will filter out any records which do not have this middle initial. Please note some data sources may not record the person's middle initial.

To make the person_search more flexible we allow you to input the components of a name (forename, middleinitial and lastname) separately. Do not use these distinct parameters if you have specfied a name.
lastname

The person's lastname, for example:-
Smith

To make the person_search more flexible we allow you to input the components of a name (forename, middleinitial and lastname) separately. Do not use these distinct parameters if you have specfied a name.
forename2

The forename of a second resident, the person_search method allows you to search for records where two names are found at the same address.
middleinitial2

The middleinitial of a second resident, the person_search method allows you to search for records where two names are found at the same address.

lastname2

The lastname of a second resident, the person_search method allows you to search for records where two names are found at the same address.

place Enter a UK place, postcode, or postcode area. Do not specify this to do a national UK search.
street The street name.
premises The house number or name.
sex

Set to m or f to specify the gender to be returned, where that gender is known.

This parameter is only applicable to electoral roll data; any results from other data sources are not filtered by this parameter.
dob_y

Enter a year element for a date of birth in the format yyyy to filter records by age
dob_m

Enter a month element for a date of birth in the format mm to filter records by age. Range of values is: 01 - 12
dob_d

Enter a day element for a date of birth in the format dd to filter records by age. Range of values: 01 - 31
min_age

Enter a minimum age to filter records by
max_age

Enter a maximum age to filter records by
use_er Set to false to NOT search the electoral register. Defaults to true.
use_osis Set to false to NOT search the phone book. Defaults to true.
use_director Set to false to NOT search for directors using Companies House. Defaults to true.
fuzzy Defaults to true. Set to false to disable fuzzy matching.
max_records

The maximum number of records to be returned. The default value is 1,000.

The absolute maximum number of records allowed is 10,000.

If the number of records returned exceeds the maximum value, a “too_many” error will be returned but if you set a max_records value higher than 10,000 the result list will be capped at 10,000.

records_per_page

The number of records returned on the current page.

Defaults to 200. Set to a factor of 200, such as 10,20 or 25 to return the <person> records in smaller chunks.

Each block of 200 records is chargeable, so, for example, if your search returns 250 records, and your records_per_page is 25, pages 0-7 (parameter page_num, is zero-based) are already paid for, but if the 9th page of results is viewed, a credit value is debited.

Returned Values

The XML response is contained within a <person_search_res> element.

Name Description
status Returns ok if the operation has succeeded, or error if an error has occurred; Returns the error_code for error details.
error_code Returns the error code when the status is error. See below for error codes.
t2a_version_number The current API version number.
credit_used The number of credits used in order to execute the request.
mode Returns normal or test when executed in the free test mode.
person_list

An array of person records.

Only one of the lists is present :-

  • If a place_list is returned, the place name is ambiguous, and the final user should be given a selection from the list.
  • If a person_list is returned, the search has returned a list of people.
place_list An array of place records. This is present if the place name is ambiguous. No charge is made when a place_list is retuned.
total_records

The total number of records, irrespective of the number displayed on any page.

This is only used when a person_list is present.
page_number

Current page being displayed, a zero-based integer.

This is only used when a person_list is present.
er_searched Set to true if the electoral roll data was searched.
telephone_data_searched

Set to true if the telephone data was searched. Note that licensing restrictions prevent telephone data being searched if:-

  • No surname is supplied
  • No place is supplied
  • The surname is less than 3 characters long.
uncapped_total

The total number of person records, when the result as capped at a maximum of 10,000; total_records will be 10,000.

This only occurs when max_records is set to higher than 10,000

The values in the <person> element.

Name

Type

Description

title

string

The person’s title, such as Mr, Mrs, Ms etc.

forename

string

The person’s first name

middle_initial

string

The second initial

surname

string

The person’s surname

name_single_line

string

The name on a single line, comprising title, forename, middle initial and surname; for example:-

Mr Alan Fiction

Jean A Dreamer

line_1

string

Address line 1

line_2

string

Address line 2

line_3

string

Address line 3

place

string

The place. If the address is in a named area within a large town, this will be that area, otherwise it will be the town. place is never empty if town is set.

town

string

The town; only used if the address is in a named area within that town.

postcode

string

The UK postal code, formatted to include the space.

addr_single_line

string

The address, formatted as a single line. Commas are inserted between the major elements, and the postcode is included, if available.

years_list

string

A list of years, in which the electoral roll record for this person has been found.

This is only set by the electoral_roll and address_person methods.

Please note that the XML returns an array of Strings; each year is a single String:- 

                
<years_list>
    <string>2008</string>
    <string>2009</string>
    <string>2010</string>
    <string>2011</string>
</years_list>

The JSON returns an array of years thus:-

"years_list":["2009","2010","2011"],

years_text

string

A simple string describing the years range, such as 2017-

telephone_number

string

The person’s telephone number.

mobile

string

The person’s mobile phone number

Error Codes

Name

Description

missing_place

The place parameter is mandatory if only the UK telephone data is being searched.

invalid_dob

The dob_? parameters used are invalid.

See the common error codes.

Free Test Mode

When operating in the free test mode errors are returned if mandatory parameters are missing, or it returns a dummy data response, in an identical format to a real response.

Note that the mode is returned as test when the method is operating in the free test mode.

The free test mode for this method operates in the following manner:-

  • If the place parameter is set to leeds, a place_list is returned.
  • If the surname is set (to anything) a dummy person_list is returned.

Example XML Response


<electoral_roll_res>
  <mode>test</mode>
  <status>ok</status>
  <credit_used>0</credit_used>
  <t2a_version_number>3.3.7.9a</t2a_version_number>
  <person_list>
    <person>
      <line_1>17</line_1>
      <line_2>Imagination Gardens</line_2>
      <line_3>Virtual Road</line_3>
      <place>Heslington</place>
      <town>York</town>
      <postcode>YO91 3X0</postcode>
      <addr_single_line>
        17 Imagination Gardens, Virtual Road, Heslington, York, YO91 3X0
      </addr_single_line>
      <years_text>2019-</years_text>
      <years_list>
        <string>2019</string>
        <string>2020</string>
      </years_list>
      <title>Mr</title>
      <forename>Alan</forename>
      <surname>Fiction</surname>
      <name_single_line>Mr Alan Fiction</name_single_line>
      <created_details>
        <y>2019</y>
        <m>2</m>
        <d>1</d>
        <en>1 Feb 2019</en>
      </created_details>
    </person>
    <person>
      <line_1>17</line_1>
      <line_2>Imagination Gardens</line_2>
      <line_3>Virtual Road</line_3>
      <place>Heslington</place>
      <town>York</town>
      <postcode>YO91 3X0</postcode>
      <addr_single_line>
        17 Imagination Gardens, Virtual Road, Heslington, York, YO91 3X0
      </addr_single_line>
      <years_text>2019-</years_text>
      <years_list>
        <string>2019</string>
        <string>2020</string>
      </years_list>
      <title>Mrs</title>
      <forename>Janet</forename>
      <surname>Fiction</surname>
      <name_single_line>Mrs Janet Fiction</name_single_line>
      <created_details>
        <y>2019</y>
        <m>2</m>
        <d>1</d>
        <en>1 Feb 2019</en>
      </created_details>
    </person>
  </person_list>
</electoral_roll_res>

Method Limits

  • The default max_records value is 1,000
  • The max_records parameter may be set to up to 10,000; if max_records is set to over 10,000, the method caps the total records to 10,000 and reports the actual total as uncapped_total; this is to avoid breaking existing code, by presenting unexepected “too_many” errors.

Result Caching

When a chargeable result is found (a list of persons) , the list is cached on our server for 60 minutes. If the successful search is repeated during that time, the list is displayed, but there is no charge.

Charging Policy

The method only charges when a valid name and/or address has been supplied.

A credit charge is then levied for every new consecutive block of 200 records viewed.

The following events are not chargeable for this method

  • Invalid place
  • Invalid input
  • Too many results found

There are two ways to authenticate your application with the T2A API. The two implementation examples on this page cover each type of authentication

We recommend using an API key for internal applications and the javascript key for public facing applications where you would want to protect your API key.

Please note: The examples below run on a sandbox environment which return sample data. To quality check the data we provide, up to 3 free searches are available in the demo tab with results showing live [REDACTED] data.

API key

<div class="person-search-example">
  <form class="person-search-form">

    <div class="form-group">
          <label for="surname">Surname</label>
          <input type="text" class="form-control" id="surname" placeholder="Person's surname e.g Fawcett">
      </div>

    <div class="form-group">
          <label for="surname">Forename</label>
          <input type="text" class="form-control" id="forename" placeholder="Person's forename e.g John">
      </div>

    <div class="form-group">
          <label for="surname">Postcode</label>
          <input type="text" class="form-control" id="postcode" placeholder="UK Postcode">
      </div>

    <div class="form-group">
          <label for="surname">Address</label>
          <input type="text" class="form-control" id="addr1" placeholder="UK Address (First line)">
      </div>

    <button type="submit" class="btn example-submit">Submit</button>
  </form>
</div>

<div class="results">
  <div id="results-output"></div>
  <a class="results-return" href="#">Back to search</a>
</div>
                
.person-search-example, .results {
  margin: 20px auto;
  width: 400px;
}

form.person-search-form, .results {
    background-color: #F6F6F6;
    border: 1px solid #CBCBCB;
    padding: 15px;
}

.example-submit {
    background-color: #F0614C;
    border-radius: 2px;
    font-size: 11px;
    font-weight: 400;
    color: #fff;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    letter-spacing: 0.193em;
    width: 138px;
    height: 41px;
    margin-top: 10px;
}

.results {
  display: none;
}

.results-return {
    font-weight: 600;
    color: #F0614C;
}

#results-output span {
    font-weight: bold;
    text-transform: capitalize;
}

#results-output hr {
    border-top: 1px solid #000;
}

.error {
  font-size: 11px;
  color: #f00;
}
                
$(document).ready(function(){ 	
    $(".person-search-form").submit(function(e) {
        e.preventDefault();	

        $('.error', $(this)).remove();

        var surname = $("#surname");        if(!surname.val()) {
                errorBefore("Please enter a surname.", surname);
            }

        var forename = $("#forename");        if(!forename.val()) {
                errorBefore("Please enter a forename.", forename);
            }

        var postcode = $("#postcode");        if(!postcode.val()) {
                errorBefore("Please enter a postcode.", postcode);
            }

        var addr1 = $("#addr1");        if(!addr1.val()) {
                errorBefore("Please enter an address.", addr1);
            }

        if($('.error', $(this)).length) {	
            $('.error', $(this)).first().next('input').focus();
        } else {
    
            $.ajax({
                url: 'https://api.t2a.io/rest/rest.aspx',
                dataType: 'json',
                data: {
                    'method'   : "person_search",
                    'api_key'  : 'sandbox',
                    'surname' : surname.val(),
                    'forename' : forename.val(),
                    'postcode' : postcode.val(),
                    'addr1' : addr1.val(),
                    'output'   : 'json'
                    },
                success: function(result){
                    if(result.status == "error") {
                        $('#results-output').append('<p class="output"><strong>Error:</strong>' + result.error_code +'</p>');
                    } else {
                        var i = 0;
                        if(typeof result.person_list !== "undefined") {
                            result.person_list.forEach(function(person_list_item){
                                if(i>0){
                                    $('#results-output').append('<hr>');
                                }
                                var exceptionsArray = ['META', 'created_details', 'years_list', 'address_key', 'organisation_key', 'dob_details'];
                                    
                                for (var key in person_list_item) {
                                    if(!key.includes('id') && !exceptionsArray.includes(key) ) {
                                        var keyName = key.replace('_', ' ');
                                        $('#results-output').append('<p class="output"><span>' + keyName + ':</span> ' + person_list_item[key] + '</p>');
                                    }
                                }
                                i++;
                            });
                        }
                        var i = 0;
                        if(typeof result.place_list !== "undefined") {
                            result.place_list.forEach(function(place_list_item){
                                if(i>0){
                                    $('#results-output').append('<hr>');
                                }
                                var exceptionsArray = ['META', 'created_details', 'years_list', 'address_key', 'organisation_key', 'dob_details'];
                                    
                                for (var key in place_list_item) {
                                    if(!key.includes('id') && !exceptionsArray.includes(key) ) {
                                        var keyName = key.replace('_', ' ');
                                        $('#results-output').append('<p class="output"><span>' + keyName + ':</span> ' + place_list_item[key] + '</p>');
                                    }
                                }
                                i++;
                            });
                        }
                    }
                    $('.person-search-example').hide();
                    $('.results').show(); 
               }
            });
        }
    });
    
    $('.results-return').on('click', function(e){
        e.preventDefault();
        $('#results-output').empty();
        
        $('.person-search-example').show();
        $('.results').hide();
    });
});

function errorBefore(msg, insertBefore) {
    $('<p class="error">' + msg + '</p>').insertBefore(insertBefore);
}

Javascript key

<div class="person-search-example">
  <form class="person-search-form">

    <div class="form-group">
          <label for="surname">Surname</label>
          <input type="text" class="form-control" id="surname" placeholder="Person's surname e.g Fawcett">
      </div>

    <div class="form-group">
          <label for="surname">Forename</label>
          <input type="text" class="form-control" id="forename" placeholder="Person's forename e.g John">
      </div>

    <div class="form-group">
          <label for="surname">Postcode</label>
          <input type="text" class="form-control" id="postcode" placeholder="UK Postcode">
      </div>

    <div class="form-group">
          <label for="surname">Address</label>
          <input type="text" class="form-control" id="addr1" placeholder="UK Address (First line)">
      </div>

    <button type="submit" class="btn example-submit">Submit</button>
  </form>
</div>

<div class="results">
  <div id="results-output"></div>
  <a class="results-return" href="#">Back to search</a>
</div>
                
.person-search-example, .results {
  margin: 20px auto;
  width: 400px;
}

form.person-search-form, .results {
    background-color: #F6F6F6;
    border: 1px solid #CBCBCB;
    padding: 15px;
}

.example-submit {
    background-color: #F0614C;
    border-radius: 2px;
    font-size: 11px;
    font-weight: 400;
    color: #fff;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    letter-spacing: 0.193em;
    width: 138px;
    height: 41px;
    margin-top: 10px;
}

.results {
  display: none;
}

.results-return {
    font-weight: 600;
    color: #F0614C;
}

#results-output span {
    font-weight: bold;
    text-transform: capitalize;
}

#results-output hr {
    border-top: 1px solid #000;
}

.error {
  font-size: 11px;
  color: #f00;
}
                
$(document).ready(function(){ 	
    $(".person-search-form").submit(function(e) {
        e.preventDefault();	

        $('.error', $(this)).remove();

        var surname = $("#surname");        if(!surname.val()) {
                errorBefore("Please enter a surname.", surname);
            }

        var forename = $("#forename");        if(!forename.val()) {
                errorBefore("Please enter a forename.", forename);
            }

        var postcode = $("#postcode");        if(!postcode.val()) {
                errorBefore("Please enter a postcode.", postcode);
            }

        var addr1 = $("#addr1");        if(!addr1.val()) {
                errorBefore("Please enter an address.", addr1);
            }

        if($('.error', $(this)).length) {	
            $('.error', $(this)).first().next('input').focus();
        } else {
            $.ajax({
                url: 'https://t2a.io/ajax/getExampleJSKey',
                dataType: 'json',
                success: function (result) {       
                        
                    if (result.status)
                    {       
                        $.ajax({
                            url: 'https://api.t2a.io/rest/rest.aspx',
                            dataType: 'json',
                            data: {
                                'method'   : "person_search",
                                'javascript_key'  : result.javascript_key,
                                'domain' : "t2a.io", 
                                'surname' : surname.val(),
                                'forename' : forename.val(),
                                'postcode' : postcode.val(),
                                'addr1' : addr1.val(),
                                'output'   : 'json'
                            },
                            success: function(result){
                        if(result.status == "error") {
                            $('#results-output').append('<p class="output"><strong>Error:</strong>' + result.error_code +'</p>');
                        } else {
                            var i = 0;
                            if(typeof result.person_list !== "undefined") {
                                result.person_list.forEach(function(person_list_item){
                                    if(i>0){
                                        $('#results-output').append('<hr>');
                                    }
                                    
                                    var exceptionsArray = ['META', 'created_details', 'years_list', 'address_key', 'organisation_key', 'dob_details'];
                                    
                                    for (var key in person_list_item) {
                                        if(!key.includes('id') && !exceptionsArray.includes(key) ) {
                                            var keyName = key.replace('_', ' ');
                                            $('#results-output').append('<p class="output"><span>' + keyName + ':</span> ' + person_list_item[key] + '</p>');
                                        }
                                    }
                                    i++;
                                });
                            }
                            var i = 0;
                            if(typeof result.place_list !== "undefined") {
                                result.place_list.forEach(function(place_list_item){
                                    if(i>0){
                                        $('#results-output').append('<hr>');
                                    }
                                    
                                    var exceptionsArray = ['META', 'created_details', 'years_list', 'address_key', 'organisation_key', 'dob_details'];
                                    
                                    for (var key in place_list_item) {
                                        if(!key.includes('id') && !exceptionsArray.includes(key) ) {
                                            var keyName = key.replace('_', ' ');
                                            $('#results-output').append('<p class="output"><span>' + keyName + ':</span> ' + place_list_item[key] + '</p>');
                                        }
                                    }
                                    i++;
                                });
                            }
                       }
                                $('.person-search-example').hide();
                                $('.results').show(); 
                            }
                        });
                    }
                }
            });
        }
    });
    
    $('.results-return').on('click', function(e){
        e.preventDefault();
        $('#results-output').empty();
        
        $('.person-search-example').show();
        $('.results').hide();
    });
});

function errorBefore(msg, insertBefore) {
    $('<p class="error">' + msg + '</p>').insertBefore(insertBefore);
}

This example first needs to call to a file on your server, which will provide the user with an API key from your javascript key.

In our example above we have used a PHP file located at ajax/getExampleJSKey which looks like the example below

    <?php

        $url = 'https://api.t2a.io/rest/rest.aspx'
            . "?method=javascript_key"
            . "&api_key=sandbox" .
            . "&domain=" . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
            . '&ip_address=' . get_user_ip()
            . "&lifetime_minutes=10";

        $result = simplexml_load_file($url);

        if ($result->javascript_key) {
            echo (string)$result->javascript_key;
        }

API Endpoint & Authentication

Demo

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