To add to that I would like to reiterate:
"CPL(H) + IR £70k high risk, potentially high returns is you get to the north sea, jobs scarce at present"
even though CHC scotia have been interviewing recently, this way could end in real tears, no job, no money and no way of keeping your hours building.
thats why the instructor route safer at the worst you can keep working your regular job and keep your hours increasing doing training at the weekends. which you could put towards paying for your IR and increasing your options and employability.
seems to me its all a matter of playing the odds, I for one would never have got to my current offshore role, if i hadnt been a high time pilot in the first place, gained almost exclusively as a flight instructor.
regards
CF