Many thanks Simon.
The trouble for me is that different schools say different things eg you must do a EP first, you are advised to do a EP and CP course first to be a better and safer pilot. A school must have a simulator like ours, some students take several extra days to complete their course thereby increasing the cost by several hundreds of pounds, on top of the course fees there are additional fees of petrol, oil and equipment if not using your own etc. One school writes that once qualified, you can't fly more than two miles from your take off (if I read it correctly)!
The more I read the more confused I get.