I agree that it's not likely to change any time soon...I'm a postdoc in a Russell Group uni and it's all gone mad. There are all sorts of structural and budget changes coming up and seems as though there will be a new 'performance review' system set up, whereby if you don't bring in a minimum of £150k a year you are under review. Absolute madness, how do they think scientists are actually going to have time to do the science when you have to spend half your time chasing new grants, networking, building collaborations etc?! Not to mention the paperwork, teaching, time spent marking repeats for all the students who fire out any old rubbish that you still have to grade and provide feedback on....
Seems to me there are two choices for those working in niche fields that don't attract large pots of money or who rely on long term datasets for decent papers: 1) take a job a lower ranking uni, where you'll actually have time to do science and research due to lower expectations for grants etc, or 2) Leave academia.
I'm starting to veer towards number 2...