I guess it's a licensing matter?
In my 25 yrs of dealing with them, most departments in the CAA @ Gatwick that are staffed by pilots have been very helpful, but Flight Crew Licensing are a useless shower of dung and always have been. I have heard that a letter addressed directly to the CAA Chairman often brings quicker results, or a letter to your MP often has similar results.
As somebody has already stated, the CAA have a 'customer charter' type of thing (cant remember where it's written down), that specifies a certain timeframe to reply in.