I can't speak to the actual regulation Tobster, but I can assure you that piloting skills are perishable, and flying time accomplished prior to 2012 will be more fond memory than useful skill now. I suggest that any additional time you fly will be of benefit, and far from a waste of money. If that time is plausibly required by regulation, all the better.
A PPL is a milestone in your flying, and may seem like an end goal, but is not. The PPL is a license to learn, and take a pax along as you do it. Don't view it as the end of your learning, and never think that more flying is not a good thing, or a waste of money. Decades from now, with thousands of hours logged, that eight hours will seem like nothing to you. In the mean time, a skill you hone during that eight additional hours could save your life. Go fly the time....