I flew helicopters around a bunch of times in Britain, and was always impressed with the number of people with Government jobs who are employed at tiny airports.
There was a guard at the gate, blue uniform, reading a newspaper. He was needed to keep the general public away from the 20 aircraft parked on the field. He lifted the tilt gate by hand to let me in. Of course, each of those aircraft paid 5% of his salary, one way or another.
There were three people in the tower (the tower!! Most US airports have a coke machine and a payphone). They operated a full set of radios and a radar. Everybody enjoyed their day, especially the several times they had to pick up the mike and talk to someone - sort of a special event, if you know what I mean. They had great reparte and good coffee, and helped with the flight plan (needed for VFR flight) and called someone on the telephone to read the entire plan verbally. That other person was Somewhere Else, but I'll be he was not a volunteer. I'll bet he was not alone, either.
There were some odd types at the airport, too, but thet were just regular working people actually doing something productive, like maintaining airplanes or pumping gas. They weren't as important, their salaries were probably paid by the service they provided.
As I flew across the country, I had to contact each airport along the way, about every 5 to 10 miles. They all said cool things like QNH and stuff, so I know they were needed. I'll bet the altimeter setting changes every 10 miles, so we need people to read it to us very often. They tracked me on the radar that some other guy with a government ID bought, and someone else maintained. They told me about traffic that would pass within 10 minutes, if I stuck around to create a conflict.
I seriously doubt that UK operators are rolling in money, the prices reflect the army is being carried on the backs of the users, because someone has to pay. I can picture the number of folks in the background, checking certificates, stamping papers and getting more coffee. They are all nice folks (seriously, I am always struck with the simple courtesy displayed by officials in the UK, That is worth something!) but someone has to pay them.