Yep, and here is the kicker with the wage situation: Once big companies realize they can get away with offering a certain rate, you will have a hell of a time convincing them to go back up.
I have been in that environment and, sad to say, a lot of what has been said here is true; results matter, not people. Your line manager doesn't get a bonus for every MUR which catches a dangerous interaction or every NMS which assuages a patients fear about their new inhaler. No. All that matters is the number game - making your store, area, region, whatever, look as profitable as possible. That is what will earmark you for bonuses, payrises and promotion, and is exactly why management are so aggressive about doing MURs and other services - they know it's a surefire way to pad out their margins, so they can look better at their jobs than they actually are.
Undoubtedly, there are long-term benefits to raising pay, by-and-large because higher rates mean you attract better-quality Pharmacists, who in turn will have a higher job satisfaction, leading to higher productivity and greater staff rentention; believe me, from healthcare assistant to Pharmacist, good staff are damn well worth every penny you pay them. However, the problem is that raising wages means the books will take a hit, and inevitably, someone higher up the food chain will want to know who hasn't been doing their job properly. Nobody wants to be the person who buggers the spreadsheet, instead, they want to be the person who gives the shiny presentation on how if we pay our locums £17/hr instead of £21 it will save the company however much per annum, thus earning the applause of shareholders the world over.
Really, prospective student, current student, pre-registration, or Pharmacist, you need to get up in arms now, not when £17/hr has looked reasonable for several years, but £14 is becoming alarmingly common. I don't know if anyone has done first aid (I did as a part of pre-reg), but you need to think of our pay situation like a burn - stick it under cold water fast enough and you can stop the heat from spreading, reducing the possibility of a scar; sadly however, I think permanent damage is already starting to take form. All we can really do now is damage control.