I also recommend a mentor so that you get more direction and at the same time build a relationship with an industry contact. I recommend this mentor, https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothée-mathon-41896b158/ Though you would still need to work on fundamentals before a mentor accepts you. For this I recommend Feng Zhu's…
I'll also recommend that you checkout the Unreal Forums for further information relating too the queries raised here plus those you've not thought of yet...
http://www.gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=The%20North Checkout Wilmslow, Cheshire as well, not far from Manchester. There's a few there like TT Games and Cloud Imperium.
Seems to be only 1 according to Gamedevmap, but if you broaden the search to Belgium there seem to be a few. https://www.gamedevmap.com/index.php?country=Belgium&state=&city=&query=&type=