1. You do not need a degree to be a commercial pilot in any UK airline.
2. 'Politically-correct' recruiting is illegal in UK. If it weren't, airlines would be entirely staffed by ethnic minority, asylum-seeking females with a disability or two. They are not.
3. Nepotism (being the chief pilot's progeny) may work in Lower Slaughter Air Taxi Company, but it doesn't in large airlines.
4. Money most certainly is required, as there are no significant sponsorships.
5. There is not now, nor is there likely to be, a pilot shortage at ab-initio (i.e. novice) level. There are, and probably always will be, many, many more people wanting to be pilots than there are jobs for them. That's why there are no sponsorships.
Scroggs
(An airline pilot, working for an airline that recruits 90% white male pilots, most of whom do not have a degree! And before anyone gets shirty, that's because 90% of the qualified applicants are white male pilots, most of whom don't have a degree.)