I was thinking of writing to the CAA now but then thought perhaps I should get PPL and then approach a flying school with a work for low rate deal and an offer to buy a batch of hours and an instructor course and get them to support my request to the CAA. (possibly a waste of time but hey ……)
Unfortunately you can't work, even for payment in kind,on a PPL otherwise everyone would be doing it to build hours.
Good luck anyway.
H.