You're absolutely right, but not for the period between 1/1/21 and getting your UK licence issued, which you couldn't apply for until 1/4/21, and which no timescale can be provided by CAA. So even if you were lucky enough to be due your LPC in December, or could convince your employer to do an early LPC in December, you would have no idea if you would have a UK licence by your next LPC. The process for applying for issue of the UK licence was not finalised by 1/1/21, just that it would be available at some point.
Added to that, realistically you would have needed to apply for SOLI by September time 2020 to know you would receive your non-UK EASA licence by 31/3/21, which is the cut-off off for being able to use it in the UK under validation until you got your UK licence issued - which you can't apply for until 1/4/21 and have no idea how long it will take to arrive. So now you've got to get your LPC done in September 2020, and hope you have your UK licence by August 2021, but with no knowledge of how that process will look or how long it will take. That's also assuming you don't need a new type rating added to your licence for example in the meantime.
In conclusion you can decide for yourself how much "work" was involved, but you sure needed to enjoy gambling if you had a UK job you wanted to make sure you could continue flying in for the next year or so - so no I don't believe it was an option for many of your fellow professionals.
The rest is all politics and out of our hands.
Last edited by rogue leader; 19th Apr 2021 at 19:32.