At the turn of the year KiDig carries nothing over by itself except contracts, tariff and public holidays. Vacation days, carry-over, special days, the hours carry-over and closing days are entered per year. This checklist walks through everything the leader needs to do.

When to do what

When What
as soon as the new year is being planned (e.g. in autumn) vacation days and special days per employee, the facility's closing days
in January, once December is fully recorded carry over hours and remaining vacation, set the expiry date

Without yearly settings for the new year, vacation requests for that year can still be made, but KiDig then does not check them against the vacation entitlement (the web form says so), and with automatic approval they are approved at once. The leader sees in the employee's yearly settings how many requests exist for a year without settings, and on the approval page the marker "Keine Jahreseinstellungen für …" (no yearly settings for …). So if staff should request next year's vacation in autumn, it is best to enter the vacation days first.

1. Vacation days per employee

  1. Open the employee → section Jahreseinstellungen (yearly settings) → pick the new year at the top (the previous, current and next year can always be chosen).
  2. Under Urlaubstage (vacation days) KiDig shows a suggestion under § 26 TVöD from the year's contracts. Übernehmen (apply) puts it into the field.
  3. Add extra leave (e.g. for severe disability) yourself.
  4. Save the yearly settings.

Set up a new year on the web if you can: when the app creates a year for the first time, it saves neither the hours carry-over nor the expiry date.

From 2027 the entitlement is 31 days on a five-day week (up to 2026: 30). Examples from the suggestion:

Working days per week 2026 2027
5 30 31
4 24 25
3 18 19
2 12 12

If the contract starts during the year, the suggestion uses 1/12 per full month (start on 1 April 2027: 23 days). There is no suggestion for PiA, FSJ and Anerkennungsjahr (recognition year) or for overlapping contracts.

2. Special leave, regeneration, conversion and swap days

Under Sonderurlaub, Regenerations-, Umwandlungs- und Tauschtage (expand):

  • Regeneration days: KiDig suggests the entitlement under § 2a TVöD BT-V (social and educational services): 2 days on five working days per week, 2 on four, 1 on three or two; only 1 day if the contract covers fewer than four months of the year. The suggestion does not know periods with pay replacement benefits.
  • Conversion days (claimed by 31 October for the following year) and swap days (claimed by 1 September) are entered in the year in which they are taken. If 0 is entered there, they cannot be requested; swap days then don't appear in the form at all. (If there are no yearly settings for the year at all, conversion days can be requested unchecked with a note; swap days cannot.)
  • Special leave: paid special leave can only be requested if a number greater than 0 is entered here. At 0 KiDig blocks every special leave request; so enter the days you grant (or raise the quota when an occasion arises).

These days do not carry over into the next year; KiDig only shows last year's remainder as a hint. Under the tariff, regeneration days lapse at year end (if refused for operational reasons, by 30 September of the following year at the latest), swap days lapse without compensation (unless an approved day could not be taken because of medically certified illness or urgent operational reasons and there was no replacement date; then it is paid).

3. The facility's closing days

☰ menu → Einrichtungseinstellungen (setup settings) → Jahreseinstellungen (yearly settings) → pick the new year → enter closing days and additional public holidays and save. They are not copied from the previous year. A closing day without another entry uses up a vacation day on a working day; if it is missing, the day is a normal working day.

4. Carrying over hours and remaining vacation

Only once December is fully recorded:

  1. Employee → yearly settings → new year → Stundensaldo aus dem Vorjahr übernehmen oder eintragen (take over or enter last year's hours balance; expand).
  2. Stunden und Resturlaub übertragen und speichern (carry over hours and remaining vacation and save). KiDig takes the balance at the end of December per time category (time with children, preparation time, management time for leaders) and the remaining vacation into "Urlaubstage aus dem Vorjahr" (vacation days from the previous year), and saves.
  3. Under Resturlaub aus dem Vorjahr und sein Verfall (carry-over and its expiry) check the expiry date. If the button carries over remaining vacation and the date is still 31 December, it sets 31 March and says so in a note; a different date stays. Under the TVöD, carried-over vacation must be started by 31 March, or by 31 May in case of illness or operational reasons.

Important:

  • The carry-over is a fixed value. If anything in the previous year changes afterwards (a sick note entered late, December times), carry over again.
  • Without a carry-over the hours balance starts at 0 and there is no remaining vacation.
  • If last year's remaining vacation is negative, the button carries over 0 days, still saves the hours and shows a note. Then check the previous year's vacation days (often they are missing or too low) and carry over again after correcting them. If too much vacation really was taken, settle with HR whether it is set off against the new year; KiDig sets nothing off. A negative value can't be entered by hand either.

When old vacation lapses

Remaining vacation from last year is used first. On days after the expiry date, vacation only counts against the new entitlement; whatever was left of the carry-over by then is removed by KiDig from the following day.

Example 2027: 31 vacation days, 5 days carried over, expiry 31 March. Taken: 3 days in February, 10 days in July.

As of carry-over left lapsed vacation left
31 March 2 0 23
1 April 0 2 21
expiry left at 31 Dec 0 0 23

KiDig counts day by day: a vacation from 30 March to 10 April uses new vacation from 1 April.

Legally, vacation generally only lapses if the employer has specifically asked the employee to take it and warned that it will otherwise lapse (Federal Labour Court, 9 AZR 423/16). KiDig doesn't check this.

Frequently asked questions

After setting up the new year, vacation suddenly produces plus or minus hours. Why? The yearly settings don't change how a vacation day counts in the hours balance. Under the average daily working time model a paid day off is neutral; under the fixed framework roster the time entered for the day counts. Check the employee's tariff and the hours carried over into the new year.

Last year's remaining vacation is very negative. Where does that come from? More vacation was booked last year than had been entered, usually because last year's vacation days are missing or too low, or because closing days used up vacation. Correct the previous year, then carry over again (until then the button carries over 0 days).

Staff can't request vacation for the new year. The yearly settings for that year exist, but vacation days and carry-over together are not enough for the request (e.g. vacation days still at 0). If the yearly settings are missing entirely, the request can be made but isn't checked.

Regeneration days I had entered in advance are gone. The days only apply to the year in whose yearly settings they are. Check that the right year was selected, and save before switching the year.

Sources

This is not legal advice. Your collective agreement (for example TVöD or AVR) and your works agreements apply.