^^^^^^^^^^^
Top man. I tip my hat to you Sir… 
Has anyone noticed that during economic upturns of strength, suddenly the firm offers a slightly-better-than-inflation rate almost automatically - presumably to avoid being asked for a proper “going rate” now there’s an actual shortage of workers?
In a proper liquid market, those that pay the least go bust first during upturns, but survive the longest in downturns. The trick is recognising when there’s a proper “prosperity” in progress, rather than just another same-old short-term boom and bust… Gordon Brown thought he’d see the end to the latter, but history has of course proved him wrong, because too much of the early noughties boom was built on debt. I’d like to see all debt liquidated to extend the NEXT boom into a proper period of prosperity the like of which we’ve yet to actually have.
It’s possible that the Bank of England has “debt liquidation” as a long term strategy here… Low interest rates give payers the chance to pay off their debts, and those who can’t afford it the chance to get a better paying job that might actually make some paydown process in due time. A rapid rise in interest rates right now would mean enforcing debt liquidation in the form of “nearly everyone defaults” which I believe would actually bring the age of prosperity closer rather than move it further out. 2020 seems like a good target year for the time being, so the mission, should you choose to accept it, is to stay alive for the 7 years until then. 
RIP Mel Smith. 