As Ron and Edna say, the UK CAA is no different to the Australian equivalent - in fact I'd say they'd run rings around CASA. Australian aviation is ever increasingly becoming self regulating (or self administrating as they like to call it but essentially it means the same thing).
Few qualified or current (operationallly) flying staff so they're reliant on the industry to largely regulate themselves.
As has been proven time and again in virtually every industry SELF REGULATION DOESN'T WORK.
VH-MLE