There's something I don't understand about that particular Safety Sense leaflet. It's a study of "166 fatal accidents" from all causes in GA from 1985 to 1994. So that's all of the fatals in GA, those involving raw PPLs and student pilots as well as IR holders, IMC holders, instructors, CPLs, etc. Weather was "a major factor" in fatals, but not the only one - yes, well, we know there are other kinds of accident e.g. aerobatic incidents, structural failures etc. In fact it talks elsewhere about young inexperienced PPLs crashing showing off to friends, etc. Then it says that "all but one of the pilots killed" losing control in IMC did not hold the IR and then uses this as a stick to beat the IMC rating. However, it does not say how many of those cases were IMC holders. Surely there were basic PPL holders involved as well? If only IMC holders crash in IMC, then the document should have made its case by saying so. Without knowing the proportion of raw PPLs in the mix, the logic of the subequent statements about the inadequacy of the IMC rating for IMC flight is not made. (As a purely VMC pilot I make no judgement about the substantive issue - I simply point out that the CAA document does not actually provide the case for the conclusion it draws.)
(edited for spelling)