Can you get car insurance without a driving license?

My car insurance is coming up for renewal soon. Me and my girlfriend (EEA foreigner) are insured on our car.

I’m totally fine and have no problems, I’ve always had a standard UK license.

My girlfriend on the other hand is still on her European license. She is in the process of changing it to a UK one but we are warned with the current situation this might take a lot longer than normal.

Last year it was fine that we were insured with her on a foreign license however I’ve been told by my current insurer that this isn’t acceptable going forward. Checking premiums on other insurers even if she did keep her foreign license (which legally she may not be able to- no straight answer on this. We’ve been told by the DVLA yes but their website implies no) it will also be a lot more expensive than if she had a UK one.

The question I have is an odd one…. Is it acceptable if I say she has a UK license for 0 years and 0 months when the insurance starts, even if it hasn’t yet arrived when the insurance begins?- obviously she wouldn’t drive whilst she’s waiting for it to come, I’m reading things that the insurance would be given for driving when you have this license. But the insurance will be in place covering her driving ready for when she can.

I’m a bit worried about leaving the car uninsured for any length of time and it seems like it’ll be jacking up the cost a lot to just do it for me and add her a few weeks later.