Rene, thanks for the detailed reply 🙂 Seems I was more than a bit off with the “extra pound”…. On one hand there is the argument that well paid staff in a nice environment have better moral which should lead to increased productivity and reduce staff turnover along with all the training + other costs involved in replacing people.
The other side of the coin is to “over pay” by such a large amount does leave them open to criticism / scrutiny and they really should give a detailed explanation of the reasons why and certainly give some justification regarding the location and expenses associated with head office.
There is the also the complete can of worms as to whether or not many customer facing roles in general are underpaid and undervalued whilst those higher up are the opposite but that’s a different discussion altogether.