Do I have to apply to university in year 12?

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You apply in year 13 (not in year 12). You'll have your predicted grades, which you enter in UCAS, and your academic referee will confirm these in your reference (which is also why you can't just lie and put higher grades than you are actually predicted). Bear in mind you must enter all attempted qualifications in UCAS, even if you failed it. You also have to write a personal statement (some unis put a lot of emphasis on this, others don't; some courses don't consider it at all, mainly certain medical schools), and then there's a bunch of demographic data you need to enter.

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You have to apply by January of the year of entry (so if you wanted to start uni in Sept 2023, you apply by January 2023) except for med/vet/dent/Oxbridge which has an earlier deadline in October of previous year (same academic year). So for 2023 entry to Oxbridge etc, you apply in October 2022 (you only have to put in the choices that have the earlier deadline in time for that - if you are applying to others that would have the normal deadline, you can add those later). It used to always be the 15th of the respective month but with COVID the dates have been a little more varied, I think it was Oct 15th and Jan 26th this year's application cycle. Make sure to check! If you do miss the deadline for some reason, you can still apply, as the deadline is just for equal consideration. However unis have no obligation to consider you equally. Some courses however will be quite happy to consider applications after the deadline - best to check with the uni in advance though.

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Unis will make their decisions, usually by May-June after you apply, with conditional offers. You pick a firm and insurance offer out of these. If you achieve those conditions for your firm choice on results day, your conditional offer will turn into an unconditional offer and then you're off to your firm choice in September (or whenever the course starts). If you don't meet the requirements for your firm choice it will turn to a rejection, and then your insurance offer comes into play. If you've met the requirements for the insurance offer, then you're off to the insurance uni in September. If you don't, that will also be a rejection

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At that point (or if you self release into it by declining all your offers) you can choose to enter clearing, where check unis that are in clearing, and ring them if so to ask if they have space on the course of interest. It's quite a fast moving process as places get taken up quickly and it's all first come first served so, if clearing is looking likely best to be prepared by knowing what course(s) you want to apply to and which unis you want to check out first.

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If you're unsuccessful in clearing or choose not to go into it, you can then do something else or take a gap year and reapply. Reapplying in a gap year as a post-qualification applicant is quite similar to the above, except you won't get a conditional offer - it'll either be unconditional or a rejection outright on the basis of your results, unless you're retaking any exams or taking new qualifications they can set conditions on.