When did everyone do their upgrade? I'm a year and quarter in and haven't done mine yet and was thinking maybe in a few months or so. Is that a bit late? Feel like I have enough done to do it now but want to get on with other stuff at the moment so keep putting it off but maybe this is a bad idea and I should make it a priority?

ur supervisor will tell you when its the right time for you. Dont worry. Thyre aware uve got to do it!

That's different from my experience. I'm only 9 months into my phd and my supervisor is pushing me to differentiate this month. In fact I was supposed to do it last month!
I guess different universities must have different timelines. We're under quite a lot of pressure to have differentiate, at the VERY latest, within 12 months.

There does seem to be a big difference between universities. I've heard that at some places you have to write a really long report too (100 pages someone told me!) but I don't think the written report is a big deal or very long where I am.

I have to do mine within 9-15 months of starting. But for people who began this year, it has been shortened to 9 months. It is supposed to be 5000 words.

I don't think I'll have any trouble with the word count (will probaly go way over), but I do worry that my data may not be convincing enough.

in my department we have to submit a 5000 word report after 8 months. that is not the upgrade from MPhil to PhD yet, but rather just a "first year report". The real upgrade is usually between 15 (which is considered as extremely early) and 27 (very late) months. in order to upgrade we have to submit 3 more or less finalized chapters (including at least one "substantial" chapter, i.e. including data & analysis) and detailed outlines of the contents of all other chapters, plus a timeline for finishing.
that's all for full-time students. parttimers have different schedules and deadlines.