First of all, I am very sorry to hear about all the stress and anguish this is obviously causing you and your partner. It is a frustrating experience spending a lot of hard earned cash on your training and then find out that a job is not waiting for you at the end of it all. But without me sounding like I intentionally want to rub salt in the wound; this is nothing new!
I am not an airline pilot, I am currently completing my CPL and will shortly be starting the IR course. I am loving every minute of my training, however not one day goes by where I shed a little bit of anxiety about what will happen when it is all over. I have a wife, who is pregnant, a mortgage and all the other good things that go with family life. I have been honest and have told everyone that is near and dear to me that there is every possibility that I will not walk into a Turboprop or Jet job with a measily 250 hours. And if that is the case, well bugger it, I'll just have to get on with it. Plan B, as they say!
One of the most important things that I was always told that if you don't get the dream job, you need to stay in aviation and make it happen. Maybe do an instructors rating. You will be among pilots every day, you will be gaining hours and experience. Fair enough, the pay is crap, but you are flying. It gives you an opportunity to network. I can count at least 5 people that I know who landed airline jobs from being instructors or working at a flying club. You would be amazed at the amount of people from various backgrounds that you can meet at these places!
Your profile says that you live in the Stansted area. Get your partner to visit various charter / air taxi companies that operate in the South East. There are bloody loads of them. Ask them about the possibility of being a safety pilot. He won't be paid and he won't be able to log the hours. But it is experience, it shows he is proactive and it looks good on the cv. And it could lead to something. There is also the chance of glider towing, dropping sky divers - all things that can be done with a CPL. There are so many of airfields offering this in the South-East. If it were me, I'd go round all of them - continually! It shows the right attitude.
What about trying to work for an airline, maybe in Ops, rostering, throwing the luggage onto the plane even. He would have one foot in the door doing this, it would help with the networking and getting his face known. Showing a bit of enthusiasm and willingness to press on when things don't go to plan often pays in the end - well so I'm told.
So best of luck to you both, stay positive, I really think it will happen.