Worth reminding people than an alternative to doing the IMC rating course in the UK would be to head out to the States and get an FAA IR.
With the collapse of the £ against the $ the FAA IR has got a little bit more expensive than it was, but it's still not going to be vastly more expensive than an IMC course in the UK. You can do it in a fortnight if you put your mind to it and in my view, you will get much more from it.
An FAA IR obviously gives you full IR privileges on an 'N' reg aircraft but a lesser known fact is that the CAA will give you an IMC rating on the basis of an FAA IR.