An employee must be given the statutory minimum holidays and not, for example, simply be given extra pay in lieu of taking holidays (except at the end of his/her employment). The prohibition of such 'in lieu' arrangements is specifically referred to in Section 13 (9) (b) of the Working Time Regulations 1998.
All statutory holiday entitlement should normally be given, and taken, during the relevant employment year. However where, for example, illness prohibits an employee from taking statutory leave, that leave must be carried forward to the following year.
Further, since 1st October 2007, there has been limited provision for an employee to carry forward all or part of their statutory leave to the next year but such provisions only apply when a minimum of 20 days are to be carried forward (for a 5-day week worker).