Will just have to agree to disagree, like I said I there was a lot of 'should' rather than 'will'. Even when pressed the CAA wouldn't commit to this definitly being the case. Our quality manager at the time gave exactly the same response. Reading all the guidance out there I felt I couldn't know 100% it would happen.
At the time I felt it was a gamble as I envisaged being stuck with an easa licence and not getting my UK one back. Now with hindsight it was a no brainer to do it. I just hope the CAA don't make a mess of the process and start creating hoops to jump through.