Current deal at Orange Airlines... (There were a few slight mistakes in one above so I have tried to clear it up here. This is the current deal for anyone leaving CTC today to join EZY in the UK)
On sucessful completion of an EZY assessment, you do the type rating etc, on the 1st day of the first month you have ANY flying duty (base training, jump seat - whatever) you will receive £1200 a month. This lasts for 8months and is all paid in ADVANCE of the month you have worked. No sector pay although there is a £20/night nightstop allowance given.
Then you go onto the flexicrew paid per hour routine, the current pay is £43 per PLANNED block hour. This means if you fly a duty that is planned for 10hrs and you manage to do it in 9.5hrs you will still be paid for the 10hrs. During this time your salary will be flexible and when we did it, you can expect to be paid around £3000 a month, possibly more depending on monthly block hours. Most will do this for approximately 4mths taking them upto the 1 years total experience with EZY (8mths @ 1200/mth + 4mths £43/planned block hour).
At the end of the first year of flying for EZY you will have an interview (perhaps with your base captain) and if you pass that successfully you will be offered a permanent contract as a Second Officer, this is 100% (not 75% as someone has said) and will spend a year on this salary (~£40,000 with NO sector pay but nightstop payments are given, you are entitled to all other benefits except salary ones. You receive pension contributions etc. If you DONT pass the interview (the majority do) then you will continue for another year as a flexicrew pilot and resit an assessment the following year.
After 1 year of employment as an SO, depending on requirement in your base (this is assumign you stay in the UK) you will either be offered 75% First Officer or 100% First officer (£35,000 or about £48,000 for 100%). Both are entitled to proper sector pay. Reality is that 75% FO is about the same as 100% Second Officer so if you get a 75% contract there isn't really much of a pay jump.
You then spend 2 years as an FO in either 75% or 100% or perhaps a variation and mixture of the two. Then you are promoted to SFO which is 100% and on a 5453 patterned roster.
To make it clear (assuming successful transition to Second Officer at first attempt)...
Months 1-8: £1200/mth (no sector pay, just a nightstop allowance)
Months 9-12: Flexicrew at perhaps £3000/mth (no sector pay, just a nightstop allowance)
Year 2: £40,000/yr (no sector pay, just a nightstop allowance)
Years 3-4: Either ~£35,000 or £48,000 (sector pay etc...)
Year 5+: Full SFO contract on a fixed pattern.
One thing worth noting, when you are on the 1200 a month you receive your money in advance, when you are a proper flexicrew you receive your salary in arrears (on the 15th of the FOLLOWING month, due to the flexible salary calculation). This can mean that you get paid on the 1st of Month 8 and will NOT be paid again until the 15th of month 10. This is about a 75 day gap in receiving any money/salary and should be planned for accordingly. We all found this period very frustrating. CTC offer a solution (being paid 1100 a month for 8 months and then 800 in month 9) but when faced with the challenges of a move to a new location in the UK, it didn't really make sense.
Others have explained the tax saving routine with the bond repayment, I have done it before so won't go into that here. Good luck!