So I recently returned to work after 6 months maternity leave. Last year I worked until the middle of June. During that time because we were so busy I didn't manage to take the holiday I had accumulated in the first 6 months of the year (7.5 days). No big deal I thought. I can roll it over or be paid for it – nothing was said to me that this would be a problem. I could have tagged it on to the start of my mat leave (which was unpaid apart from 6 weeks) but I thought that would be an unnecessary complication and I actually gave birth 3 days into my mat leave anyway.
Upon my return in January I was told that it wouldn't be possible to pay me for the holiday I was owed. And I could only roll over a maximum of 3 days….so last year I effectively worked for a week for free…..