That is my impression as well. My rate is currently around 445gbp/day for backend development in Berlin and it is far from being at the high end (according to a yearly survey run by gulp.de). My total monthly expenses including rent, health insurance, etc. are below 2k gbp. I do pay higher taxes though.

What's the situation like there with having your own business vs as things are here with a uk ltd company, or do you work via an umbrella corp?

As far as I know, setting up a "UG" is easy enough. I'm registered as a freelancer ("Freiberufler") with the tax authorities. I guess that's like a sole proprietor? Upside is that I don't pay corporate tax (because there's no corporation). Downside is that I pay taxes on all my income instead of keeping most of it in the corporation.

TIL I basically work for free. But then again, I hardly do any work, so it seems to even out in the end.