CF - sadly it's correct. The CAA are however looking at changing this but its an EASA thing so will take a while.
Similar thing happened to me when I changed my home address - by the time they got around to processing it (3 months!) their records showed my 206 had expired by 2 days and I had been unable to get my PC done due to work/terrible winter winds/aircraft availability. Ironically though I could have done my PC in that time but the licence would have been invalid as they had reprinted a new one.
I lost out on work due to this but after a couple of emails the CAA (kindly) agreed to a quick postal turn around and no charge for reinstating the rating so all in all not too bad a result.
Hopefully the rule will change soon! The CAAs customer service is certainly improving.