I spoke with a senior QF mate a while back, and he says that new starts will definitely be paying for their FIRST endorsemnt within the near future.
A friend of mine just started in mainline...no mention of
paying for endorsement during the interviews or during the groundschool (where you find out everything apparently!).
Perhaps just speculation based on what is happening in regionals.
Paying for your endorsement will certainly reduce the so called holdfile!