Very shortly, the CAA will be introducing on-line pilot licensing forms, starting with LAPL / PPL / FRTOL applications and UK to Part-FCL licence conversions as these constitute the vast majority of the CAA Hub's licence production workload.
To complement the on-line application process, initially the PPL application process will require a single page A4 'course completion' certificate, which will eliminate any need for the submission of logbooks, Q X-C authorisation forms and the like. It may either be scanned and sent as an attachment to the on-line application form, or sent in hard copy if the ATO doesn't have a scanner.
The on-line application process itself promises to be very simple and should be idiot-proof, so there should be no applications delayed or returned because either the dim-witted applicant or lazy examiner overlooked an administrative requirement.
Later, following further IT development, the forms will be able to 'auto-populate' with data derived from CAA reference numbers and will also allow the 'course completion' certificate to be completed on-line, once a suitable electronic authorisation process has been identified and tested.
So, very soon now, applications should be able to be processed even quicker!