MP, are you with CX? Eyes only has given accurate answers to your questions. Im also with CX, and to answer a few more of your queries:
DESO vs CEP - 12 months is indeed a record, these days its over 4 years, thanks in part to the DEFOs on the pax fleet and RA65. The long time from start to upgrade negates the DESO and CEP differences in catagories. Eyes only is right when he says CEP start as Cat C, they do a year as Cat C and are assesed as suitable for Cat B then if they are up to the required standard. Same for the DESO who start as Cat B and go to Cat A. This is only part of the requirement to be upgraded. There is also the Upgrade Technical interview and the assesement board before being considered "suitable" for upgrade. The company has not been paying BPP to any but 3 SOs for over a year now, as the case is under an appeal, a judgement which is due, well, was due, a few months ago.
The unified pay scale, in fact, any pay scale is now a complicated minefield, it depends on which basing company you may be with, where you are based, if you are based and when you started....clear as mud?!
Are you looking at applying to Cathay? As far as I know, there is no DEFO recruiting in the immediate future.
Nosey