In lean times, a few airlines stick to hiring integrated guys. These are not lean times.
You can get into an airline job for £40k, and in much less than a year if you plan correctly and work hard. An integrated course, apart from throwing 60k down the toilet, shackles you to a fixed time frame. The same with modular ground school. I went distance learning, which enabled me to pass the exams in 3 months (instead of having to go at the pace of the class). We are in the middle of the best hiring period in years, but you never know when the music is going to stop, so consider it a race. Modular in a year is better than integrated in 18 months, especially if the hiring stops in 15 months!
The first thing to do is book yourself an EASA Class 1 medical. Book it today. If there’s a show-stopper it’s best to find out early.
Then, get yourself to the US and get an FAA PPL. Why? Because it’s cheaper and faster. You can get it in a month easily, vs much longer in the UK due to better weather, especially in winter.
Month 1 - PPL
Month 2-7 - Atpl exams with a flight every weekend or so
Month 8 - hour building (plenty of places in the US will rent you a plane for a month)
Month 9-10 - Complete a combined CPL/MEIR course (DFAS, Bartolini etc)
£40k all in. Quite why people spend £100k is beyond me. For that money you can get fATPLs and instructor ratings for both Aeroplanes and Helicopters. Or a 737 Type rating AND an A320 type rating AND a Dash8 type rating. (Which would be daft)