Chuckrox8

Sorry, I don’t have any advice for UK based folks but for US based L3’ers go to Schweser’s 3 day live seminar. It was so helpful with IPS and the essay portion of the exam.
To answer your question about the material being more difficult; it’s not at all. You just have to learn to a new way to approach a different type of question and answer in a way that the CFAI will like. It’s hard to get this from self study and AF will marginally help, but if you’re company is going to pay for a course, you might as well do it. I can’t speak for how well UK course providers know the CFA exams/grading vs. how well they help you with the material. Hopefully some other people can help with that.