Headsethair and Mr. Selfish appear to have grasped the idea. The original thread was not asking about UK instructors' pay but overall pay levels of a helicopter pilot when compared with other professions.
It is quite simple: whilst there are low-hour CPLs who are prepared to work for the square-root of diddly-squat in order to build hours, then wages will stay at the lowest level. For example, you are an operator who has a simple contract doing, say, some pleasure flying at a country show in a JetRanger. You have a choice of paying £x per hour to a 5,000 hour ATPL(H) or £y per hour to a 200 hour CPL who can do the job probably just as well (where x>y). Whadd'ya gonna do?
Right or wrong? Who's to say? If you are a high-hours ex-mil pilot, you would quite rightly wish to be paid a fair wage for the job but if you were a low-hours CPL desperate to get the stick time (and have another profession on which to fall back, as many do), what would you do? To be paid peanuts for a bit of commercial work sure beats have to pay for the hour building yourself!
Cheers
Whirlygig