2D,
I know the UK well, though usually either very IFR or very VFR.
My main points are underlining your post that the two items are instrument flying and IFR are different things.
This is why I was surprised that the UK required the 'actual' time. The rules I flew under were even more liberal in that they just kind of assume that if you had flown an IFR flight then you must have done it by sole reference.... Of course the chances of flying the 20 hours per year IFR without doing a good bit of actual time are small indeed.