Question 1

How do I create a MoveCompass account?

Accepted Answer

Enter your email and choose a password on the sign-up page. We send a six-digit code to confirm the address, you type it in, and you are done. No card, no phone number, about a minute.

Question 2

Why do I need an account?

Accepted Answer

Two reasons, both practical. Verified accounts stop automated scraping, which is what keeps searches fast for people actually using the site. And an account is what lets us save your areas, remember your searches and email you when something changes in a place you are watching.

Question 3

Can I use MoveCompass without an account?

Accepted Answer

You can read every guide, the blog and the data source pages without one. The postcode tools need a verified account, because they are the part that costs us money to run and the part scrapers want. A free account gives you three postcode searches a week.

Question 4

Is my email address safe?

Accepted Answer

We use it to sign you in and to send what you asked for. We do not sell it, rent it, or pass it to advertisers, and there is no marketing list you have to opt out of.

Question 5

What is included in the Free plan?

Accepted Answer

Three postcode searches a week, and every tool within them — schools, crime, health, transport, food hygiene, broadband, sold prices and the rest, with exactly the same data premium members see. You also get two-postcode comparison, three saved areas and one vehicle in the MOT garage. What you do not get is more searches, alerts, email digests, history charts or PDF reports.

Question 6

What is included in Explorer?

Accepted Answer

Twenty postcode searches a week instead of three, ten saved areas, three vehicles, history charts, area alerts and email digests. Comparison is two postcodes on every plan, including Free — three columns of numbers on a phone is unreadable, and the decision people actually make is between two places.

Question 7

What is included in Pro?

Accepted Answer

Everything in Explorer, plus unlimited searches, fifty saved areas, ten vehicles and the full area report as a PDF. Aimed at people looking at many areas — agents, relocation advisers, landlords — rather than at one household researching one move.

Question 8

Is there a free trial?

Accepted Answer

Three days on the monthly plans. Yearly plans do not have one, deliberately — a three-day trial on a year-up-front charge means anyone who forgets is billed £59 or £129 on day four. If you want to try before committing to a year, take the monthly plan and switch later.

Question 9

Can I switch between monthly and yearly plans?

Accepted Answer

Yes, from your account at any time. Switching to yearly takes effect immediately and we credit what you have already paid for the current month; switching back to monthly takes effect at the end of the year you have paid for.

Question 10

What happens when my free trial ends?

Accepted Answer

The plan you chose starts and the first payment is taken. We email you the day before that happens — a three-day trial cannot have a three-day warning — and you can cancel any time before it. Trials are on monthly plans only; yearly plans start straight away, so nobody is billed a year up front by forgetting.

Question 11

How do I update my payment method?

Accepted Answer

From your account, under Billing. You are taken to your payment provider's own secure page — we never see or store your card details.

Question 12

When will I be charged?

Accepted Answer

On the same date each month or year, depending on your plan. We email three days before a renewal, and the day before a trial ends, always with the amount and the date.

Question 13

Can I get a refund?

Accepted Answer

Within 14 days of subscribing you can cancel for any reason and we refund to your original payment method within 14 days — that is your legal right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations. After that we do not refund the period you are already in, which is why cancelling keeps your access to the end of it rather than cutting it off the same day. And if something has gone wrong — a double charge, a charge after cancelling — tell us whenever it happened and we will put it right.

Question 14

How do I cancel?

Accepted Answer

From your account, in one click, at any time. No email required, no retention call. You keep access until the end of the period you have paid for.

Question 15

How accurate is MoveCompass data?

Accepted Answer

As accurate as the source it came from — we do not adjust or smooth published figures. Where a source has known limits we say so on the tool: Ofcom broadband figures are modelled predictions rather than measurements, and crime counts recorded incidents rather than measuring risk. Two things are ours rather than a publisher's, and we flag both: the Compass Score, which combines several measures using our own weighting, and the energy band where the register returns a letter but no score — we use the midpoint of that band, which is why the report shows a band rather than a decimal.

Question 16

Can I see the source of a particular statistic?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every figure on a report names the organisation it came from, and the data attributions page lists every source with its licence. If a number matters to you, you can go and check it at the original.

Question 17

Why might data for my postcode be missing?

Accepted Answer

Usually because the publisher does not cover it. Crime covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not Scotland, which publishes no street-level data. Sold prices are England and Wales — Scotland uses Registers of Scotland and Northern Ireland uses Land and Property Services. Council tax and school performance are England only. Occasionally an area is simply new to us and fills in within a few minutes of the first search. The report tells you which of the two it is rather than showing a blank.

Question 18

Which nations does each tool cover?

Accepted Answer

It varies by publisher, and every tool says so on its own card. Whole UK: broadband, mobile, food hygiene, NHS services, transport stops, shops and amenities, chargepoints. England, Wales and Northern Ireland: crime. England and Wales: sold prices. England only: council tax, school performance and Ofsted judgements. Scotland has the fewest — it publishes no street-level crime and abolished school league tables, so those tools say so rather than showing an empty page.

Question 19

How does MoveCompass use my postcode?

Accepted Answer

To look up the data you asked for, and to remember your recent searches so you can get back to them. We do not build a profile of where you are thinking of moving, and we do not pass your searches to anybody.

Question 20

Do you sell my data?

Accepted Answer

No. Not your email, not your searches, not your saved areas. Subscriptions are what fund the site, which is precisely why we do not need to.

Question 21

Do you show adverts?

Accepted Answer

No, and we do not take money from estate agents, developers or removals firms to rank them higher. The removals directory is free to join and free to appear in.

Question 22

Can I delete my account and data?

Accepted Answer

Yes, from your account. It removes your email, saved areas, alerts, vehicles and search history immediately. The only thing that stays is the billing record, which the law requires us to keep for six years — that is what you paid and when, not your searches or your areas.

Question 23

What is included in a postcode report?

Accepted Answer

Schools and childcare with inspection judgements; recorded crime by category with the trend; GPs, pharmacies, dentists and hospitals; sold prices and average rent; council tax; broadband and mobile coverage; transport stops and services; food hygiene ratings; shops, parks and community places; live flood warnings and air quality; your MP; and the energy rating profile of local housing. Sections appear only where the publisher covers your area — a Scottish postcode shows no crime section rather than an empty one.

Question 24

Can I download or share my report?

Accepted Answer

Pro members can save a report as a PDF. Any report can be shared by copying the link — anyone opening it sees the same postcode, though they will need their own account to view the premium sections.

Question 25

How does postcode comparison work?

Accepted Answer

You enter two postcodes and we show the same measures for each, in the same order, from the same sources. There is no overall score and no winner — where a figure is missing for one area we leave the row out rather than guessing at it, so you are always comparing like with like.

Question 26

How many areas can I compare?

Accepted Answer

Two at a time. We have deliberately not added more: three columns of numbers on a phone is unreadable, and the decision people actually make is between two places.

Question 27

What counts as a search, and how many do I get?

Accepted Answer

A search is one postcode. Opening the area report for SL1 2TP uses one, and every tool you then open for that same postcode is included — schools, crime, transport and the rest cost nothing extra. Free accounts get three a week, Explorer twenty, and Pro has no limit. The allowance resets every Monday, and your account page shows what you have left.

Question 28

Do prices include VAT?

Accepted Answer

The price you see is the price you pay. No VAT is added at checkout.

Question 29

How can I pay?

Accepted Answer

Card payments are handled by Stripe. Where PayPal or Direct Debit are available to you they appear at the checkout alongside it. Payment is always taken on the provider's own secure page — your card details never reach MoveCompass.

Question 30

Can I rely on this when buying a house?

Accepted Answer

Use it to decide where to look and what to ask about — that is what it is for. Do not use it as a substitute for a survey, a solicitor's searches or a mortgage valuation. We show official data accurately; we do not inspect the property, and no dataset can tell you whether a particular house is sound.

Question 31

I think a figure is wrong. How do I report it?

Accepted Answer

Tell us the postcode, which tool, and what looks wrong, through the contact page. If the error is ours we fix it and tell you. If the figure is what the publisher released, we will show you where it came from so you can take it up with them — and if their data is commonly misread, we will add a note to that tool so the next person is not caught out.

Question 32

Who runs MoveCompass?

Accepted Answer

It is built and run in the UK by Aasim Ghaffar. It is a small operation — the person who writes the code also answers the contact form.

Question 33

How do you check the removals firms listed?

Accepted Answer

Before a listing appears we see a driving licence and an insurance certificate, and we record when that cover expires. A listing disappears automatically when the cover lapses. We are not a booking service and take no commission — you contact the firm directly and deal with them yourself.

Question 34

Is it free to list my removals business?

Accepted Answer

Yes. No commission, no lead fees, no subscription. Send us your licence and insurance, and once we have checked them your listing goes live.

Question 35

Is MoveCompass free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes, within three postcode searches a week — and that includes every tool, two-postcode comparison, three saved areas and one vehicle. Paid plans raise the limits and add alerts, digests, history charts and PDF reports. Monthly or yearly, cancel in one click.

Question 36

Where does MoveCompass get its data?

Accepted Answer

Mostly official national sources, and we name every one. Schools come from the DfE register with Ofsted judgements; crime from police.uk; sold prices from HM Land Registry; GPs, pharmacies and hospitals from the NHS organisation register with CQC ratings; broadband and mobile from Ofcom; rent and deprivation from ONS; council tax from MHCLG; energy ratings from the government EPC register. Some come from open or third-party sources instead: shops, parks and transport stops from OpenStreetMap, chargepoints from Open Charge Map, weather from Open-Meteo, and ratings and photos from Google Places where that is switched on. Every tool names its source and when it last refreshed, and the data sources page lists all of them with their licences.

Question 37

How do the MOT reminders work?

Accepted Answer

Add a registration once and we watch the official DVSA MOT history, emailing you before the due date. It is free, and we store only the registration and its dates. Road tax reminders are not live yet — DVLA closed new registrations for their vehicle enquiry service while they upgrade it, so we cannot look tax up. You can still add a vehicle and we will fill the tax dates in as soon as those lookups reopen.

Question 38

Is crime data safe to read at street level?

Accepted Answer

Police.uk deliberately blurs incident locations to protect victims, so treat street-level pins as approximate. Category mix and multi-year trends are the reliable signals — our crime guide on the blog explains how to read them.

Frequently asked questions

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