Its shocking to me how poorly people are compensated in the UK. There's no way a competitive market could exist there. Move to America if you dare... you can actually make something of your life.
I can assure you that there very much is a competitive market for engineering talent in the UK. Salaries are generally lower than the US market, but a £60k salary still puts someone in the top 10% nationally in terms of income.
Does it make the situation better if everyone is mistreated? Part of me wonders if its a bunch of old money Lords and Ladies bank rolling these businesses. They just crush you and tell you its a "competitive market".
What do I know. I'm literally making stuff up on a Saturday morning. At his experience level and skill set you can make triple in America.
This suggests that you're also probably overestimating the average income of tech workers in the US generally; people's views of this are often distorted by the headline figures from big tech companies, which aren't terribly representative of the diversity of roles across the country.