I do know the difference - but apparently the LAA is rather inconsistent in that. It requires 1000hrs SEP to become an LAA coach, but they permit those coaches to instruct/coach in a number of microlight types.
I didn't "buy my ratings" of-course, I worked for them like anybody else - in my case a CPL(SEP) which I started around the time I passed 1000hrs TT, and a CRI that I did around 1200 hours. Both doubtless improved my flying standards, I think that this should have some relevance.
But my personal gripe, and I know I perhaps should let it rest for a few years is straightforward - I applied to become an LAA coach, with at the least over 1000hrs on piston engined aeroplanes, a CPL and CRI, but yes a significant number of those hours on microlights. That was rejected out of hand, apparently because of the lack of SEP hours alone. I was never interviewed or even spoken to on the phone, nobody flew with me, nobody took up any references from anybody I'd flown with.
Had they done a few of those things, and *then* told me I wasn't up to it, I would have no issue, although would certainly have asked for a thorough debrief and gone off to improve myself. But essentially refusing to count my microlight hours, for a role that could potentially include instructing on microlights, seems to have been a decider that prevented any other and arguably more effective method of determining whether I was up to the role.
So I got a bit grumpy about it.
G