Have a look at the impact of the EASA changes as well... as far as I could work out, if on the 8th April 2012 you have a UK licence with valid rating then it will be auto-exchanged for an EASA licence. With no valid rating, there will be an extra exam or similar to contend with and it will be trickier.
I say 'as far as I could work out' because it is a bit of a minefield... I was just advised to renew my licence and type rating/ IR before 8th April.