As far as I know the few "forecasters"
left in the MetO all have degrees.

There are still a few of the older, outstation forecasters, without a degree, but not many. The problem with the "new entry" of forecasting and admin staff is that they have no understanding of the basics. In the old days, the majority of staff started as observers, or at least had some observing experience. They did part of their training at out stations and probably ended up as outstation forecasters where they were very closely "in touch" with the real weather. There's nothing that concentrates the mind better than a DATCO breathing down your neck when he's trying to recover aircraft in deteriorating weather! Today, trying to get senior staff to understand the importance of maintaining standards in basic observing is a difficult task, especially when it means spending money. With proper observers a thing of the past you only have to look at some of the obs from the few manned outstations left, where observing is undertaken by degree entry forecasters, to see the lack of understanding of actual weather. You old observers out there will all have come across forecasters who put pressure on observers to make the actual fit the Taf. You now have forecasters doing the actuals!