If you look at salaries posted by companies hiring here on HN you'd think they are. Factor in the audacity of "hybrid" and "onsite" and the cost of commute and rent and indeed it's a pretty low rate even for permanents.

I’ve not actually looked at the salaries posted on here to be honest. I know one thing, though. You’d need to triple that to get me to anywhere near an office.

Yeah, no, not going to happen in the UK. Software pay around here is truck driver level (happy for truck drivers, but comparatively they have less stress to deal with and if they like coding they can do it hasslefree on the side - will end up cleaner and more efficient than the spaghetti monsters i've seen in some of these companies).

Yeah, I’m aware (UK citizen planning an exit). 100% agree with you on the spaghetti monsters. Some of the code I have to review makes me want to give up and start baking instead.