Prior to EASA, all UK-issued pilot licences without IRs or IMCRs included Air Navigation Order defined VFR limitations which were more restrictive than ICAO limitations.
When this so-called 'safety agency' bludgeoned its unwelcome presence onto the UK scene, all valid JAR pilot licences were 'deemed' to be incompliance with Part-FCL. A corollary of this being that the previous restrictions no longer applied to JAR-FCL or Part-FCL licences. Hence holders of such licences which do not include instrument privileges may now fly down to ICAO VFR limits.
However, pilots with 'legacy' UK PPLs or NPPLs remain restricted to the ANO VFR minima appropriate to their licences.