I believe the leaded solder ban might be more of a EU thing as both 60/40 and 63/37 is still readily available for the North American market. I suppose eventually they might ban it for sale here too but for the time being it's still available.

I'd imagine buying small quantities for personal use on sites like eBay sort of evade the bans too, at least that's my experience obtaining banned lighting here.

I believe the leaded solder ban might be more of a EU thing as both 60/40 and 63/37 is still readily available for the North American market. I suppose eventually they might ban it for sale here too but for the time being it's still available.

I'd imagine buying small quantities for personal use on sites like eBay sort of evade the bans too, at least that's my experience obtaining banned lighting here.

Definitely at this moment sale ban to individuals is indeed just an European thing, but the fact is, due to these regulations leaded solder has not much industrial use anymore, as practically all western world allows the consumer goods to be made just using unleaded solder (Europe the lead use is just banned, I don't know the US legal status but all global electronic makers use lead free for NA market as well), so I'm afraid it won't be made anymore, at least in quantities allowing the price to stay reasonable (at trustworthy sellers).

And regarding purchases on ebay or so:
1) In whole Europe (I doubt GB will be backing away from that) the customs is (legally wise) supposed to stop even individual packages, unless accompanied by the dedicated license. They are not doing it yet, but with the new VAT collection rules the inspection will get way tighter (they won't be able get away by just "there was clearly no tax or duty to pay anyway, so we did not checked its content" when they have to collect VAT; and when VAT collected by the ebay/ali/banggood/..., the goods will be declared according to the listing, so it won't pass either).
2) I once tried to buy the leaded "eutectic" solder there and what arrived was way worse than the worst lead free I've ever met. Dunno if it was clear lead, heavily internally oxidised or some (way easier to purchase ow, even in China) cheapeese lead free alloy. Compare to that, I guarantee you will be way better off with some average quality lead free blend. So for me no trust on ebay nor any similar source at all.
At the end for hand soldering the quality and quantity of the flux inside of the solder wire plays way more important role (in how easy/difficult will be to make a decent joint) than whether it is truly the leaded eutectic alloy or some lead free. And by the way the flux happens to be the most expensive component of a solder wire as a product...

And sellers of reputable trustworthiness won't send such stuff to the EU either (because these sellers declare the goods honestly and with the "40% lead" on there the shipment won't pass customs even today). And those who lie to customs will very likely lie even to you and you are back with that c$$p I got instead of the proper 60/40 from China some time ago.

The lead solder we've got in our possession was made years ago in the UK.

My point was, if you are buying soldering equipment now, make sure it is ready for the lead free solder (so some temperature control,...). It would be silly to find out after few years you have to buy a new one again (even when the old is still functional, just not be possible to work with the lead free with it), when the leaded solder becomes really an unobtanium.
We may not like it, but it is the reality, so better be ready for it...

Yeah I'm aware. I will eventually. But I'm holding out for now since I just moved here and have other things I need to sort out first. I'll be looking to also get a place at the equivalent to the makerspace in which case it will be a bit unnecessary anyway. But if that falls through I will definitely be getting one

Oh yeah. I don't trust unleaded solder at all. Never been able to get it to work properly. The leaded is just nicer to work with. At least for an unskilled ape like me, lmao

@Medved: My point of buying a good quality iron is you only need to buy one and not have to replace after a few years when the element burns out. 

I found this iron on eBay a while ago, I bought it as it was the first soldering iron I ever had, when I was about 10 or so. This one has obviously been well used but also well cared for, with the original packaging and instructions. I don't use it, as I have a couple of newer ones, but I had to have this one