Tobster,
Yes you can. CAA were changing over to the new licence 2 or 3 years ago when I did mine, and it was taking months not weeks to get licences processed. Not wanting to wait all that time, and then wait again for them to process my Night Qual, I did my night training straight after and sent all the paperwork off at once. Majority of my flying for the first few months were night flying.
TPP