Still no licence required to fly a glider in the UK, unlike in the USA.
This is correct - to a point; while a license is not required in the UK, all gliding clubs in the UK are regulated by the British Gliding Association. The laws and rules for glider pilots issued by the BGA, contains recomended Rules, extracted from the ANO, BGA rules and recomended practices. While not actually required (in law) the BGA/FIA certificate process provides equal status:
I hold a UK Glider Pilots License and a US Glider Pilots License: The latter was issued on the basis of my UK pilots license; I became eligable for this following by Bronze + Cross-Country Endorsement. So in reality there is a direct correlation between the two. Oh and by the way, I fly regularly in the US (monthly), where the US glider pilots license means that you have effectivly gone solo, and passed an exam and not a lot else!