Sonic
Having just been through the IR treadmill, the way I understand it is as follows: When you complete the IR your military IR will keep it current. From the day your military IR expires, the clock starts ticking on your civy IR and you then have 5 years before you need to do a renewal which is 1 trip in a plane for some more fun NDB holds! I believe that the re-issue of the license itself is simply a matter of coughing up yet more money to the CAA, and it should't matter if you are current or not as anyone can renew a license any time.
I may be wrong, but in 3 weeks we may all be out of flying practice anyway!!