There are self-contradictory statements in LASORS - in one place it states that if you have a valid ICAO IR you can apply for an IMC Rating based on the date of your last revalidation without requiring any exam or test - yet elsewhere it states that if you have a multi-pilot IR then you need an IMC flight test....
A change which someone in the CAA sneaked into LASORS 2005 without consultation. Now, as the IMC Rating is a national rating, any changes to exisiting national legislation involving additional expense require a Regulatory Impact Assessment.
Which the CAA didn't conduct....
'tis bolleaux and, at my request, the Head of Personnel Licensing has directed his people to sort it out. The whole problem stems from the fact that, in their precipitate haste to adopt JAR-FCL, the CAA forgot to include the embedded IMC Rating privileges in CAA-issued JAR-FCL professional licences which had always been included in UK CPL(A) and ATPL(A) licences. But you won't hear them admitting that!
Watch this space!