National minimum wage

1. What is the current rate for the minimum wage?
2. I have taken on a couple of 17 year olds. Do I have to pay them the development rate, or are there no restrictions on what I can pay?
3. I've taken on a 23 year old with no job experience whatsoever (she is a single mother). Do I have to pay her the adult rate?
4. Can I pay an employee less than the minimum wage, if he is willing to accept it?
5. We were persuaded to take on a lad with learning difficulties. He does his best, but he's not efficient. Do we have to pay him the minimum wage?
6. I employ my wife in the business, and I sometimes get my teenagers to put in a few hours too. Do I have to pay them the minimum wage?
7. We pay a mixture of flat rate and bonuses. Employees might not get pay equivalent to the minimum wage every week, but they probably would over the month. Is this acceptable?
8. Most of our employees do some overtime. Can we include overtime payments in calculating whether we are paying the minimum wage?
9. We employ people on a freelance basis, and at piece rates. Are they covered by the legislation, and if so, how do we translate piece rates into rates per hour?
10. We use a man with a van on a regular basis to make deliveries for us, but as far as we're concerned he's definitely self-employed. This isn't going to cause problems, is it?
11. We provide accommodation for our employees. How do we value that, when calculating whether they receive the minimum wage?
12. We run a catering business, and reckon that our employees double their takings from the tips. Surely we can make some allowance for this?
13. Our employees are entitled to buy products at a discount. Can we attribute a value to this 'perk', in calculating whether we pay the minimum wage?
14. Do we have to include travelling time in calculating the hours over which we have to pay the minimum wage?
15. Do we have to pay the minimum wage for the hours when people are 'sleeping over'?
16. We have an employee who says he wants to have a look at his records, to check whether he has been paid the minimum wage. Is he entitled to do so?
17. What records do we need to keep?
18. What penalties might we be subject to, if we failed to pay the minimum wage?
19. Can people who worked for us in the past for less than the minimum wage come back now and demand that we pay the extra?