There was a handout (which I forgot to pick up) which might have been worth scanning...
The whole theme was that the CAA is doing all it can
within its power to keep people flying, but EASA has set strict boundaries on discretion elsewhere. I am sure this is true, and historically it is very much the case that the CAA has grandfathered forward every imaginable piece of paper at every juncture (vis the "paid PPL instructor" to BCPL, etc) but of course they would say that anyway.
One interesting snippet was that while JAR-FCL papers become EASA papers automatically, non-JAR-FCL papers will
all require a
flight test with an examiner to get the corresponding EASA papers issued. So e.g. a NPPL to LAPL conversion (if there is one) will require a flight test. Same with a UK PPL to EASA PPL.
It thus suggests that those with non-JAR-FCL papers who can get them converted trivially to JAR-FCL before the July deadline, should do so now as this will avoid the flight with an examiner which they will get hit with after July.
On the IMCR, there are no concrete news over anything that's come out over the past year or two. Clearly Sivel has the CAA over a barrel on this and is making them sweat it out.
I hope I got that right
