1013.25
I am also seriously considering going down this route even though just about everyone you speak to on this subject will try and persuade you to go for the ATPLs and forget the CPL.
The only school currently offering distance learning for the JAR CPL(A) is Atlantic Flight Training at Coventry so you do not have to choose where to go. Full details of all flying training organisations in the UK, and the courses they can offer are available via the CAA website at
www.srg.caa.co.uk
For what it is worth my reasons for taking the CPL route are as follows :-
1) The current employment market and my personnel circumstance mean that my initial career aspirations only extend as far as instructing and for this I need only have a CPL(A).
2) The CPL(A) is cheaper to do, takes 2/3 the study time and half the mandatory classroom time, involves fewer exams and I am more likely to pass within the required sittings. The total cost for the ground school and exams together is under £2000.
3) This route is more flexible as you are not compelled to do an IR within 36 months of the ATPL theory pass in order for the theory credit to remain valid for licence issue. After gaining the CPL I can concentrate on gaining experience towards the FI rating and perhaps a multi-rating at my own pace. If the employment market significantly improves over the next few years and the IR starts to look like the right move I will train for it and pay for it then - not now.
4) A CPL-IR holder has virtually all of the same entitlements that an ATPL holder has, apart from not being able to command on a public transport flight in a multi-crew aircraft. All other types of flying can be done on a CPL-IR including co-piloting on public transport.
5) My spouse has been a successful and well paid commercial instructor for over 10 years and has attained all the relevant ticks in all the boxes up to and including the UK-ATPL via the 'self-improver' route. So far the ATPL has never been needed.
Best of luck to you 1013.25.