Well let me assure you that if you don't know your stuff in the JAA IR exam, you 'aint passing' either mate. The intricacy of the UK airways system is a nightmare compared to the user friendly US of A or the empty-by-comparison skies of Australia / NZ. And you have to hand fly the lot.
Which brings me to another point that really bugs me ... The JAA IR test is based on a simulated air transport flight throughout. it is not allowable to use the autopilot even in the cruise part of the JAA IR test. And yet, under the JARs it is actually illegal to conduct single pilot IFR air transport without a serviceable autopilot. Why do they persist in basing the whole IR test on conducting an operation that's actually illegal?
I'm not advocating that you should be allowed to fly all the approaches on autopilot, but sensibly using at least a simple heading hold / wing leveller while you write your clearances is to my way of thinking an absolute minimum safety requirement for single pilot IFR ops. In fact, down under it is a compulsory part of the test to show proficiency in the use of the autopilot at some stage en route.