Cologne Kita Closes 27 Days a Year, Your Statutory Leave Is 20: How Parents Cover the Gap at Work

The Arithmetic Most Parents Find Out Too Late

North Rhine-Westphalia lets a Kita close for a limited number of days, and Cologne’s providers use most of them. Section 27 paragraph 3 of the KiBiz says closure days, not counting weekends and public holidays, should not exceed 20 and may not exceed 27. Closures of up to half the daily opening time count as half days.

One large Cologne provider, the Evangelischer Kindertagesstättenverband Köln-Rechtsrheinisch, publishes its closures for the 2026 calendar year: summer closure from 10 to 28 August, Christmas closure from 24 to 31 December, Rosenmontag, and six further days for concept and cleaning days. That is 15 working days in summer, around five at Christmas depending on how 24 and 31 December are counted, one Rosenmontag and six more days: about 27 working days on a simple count, which puts this plan at or near the ceiling (the official count has its own rules, for example half days). Other providers set their own dates, so use the plan your own Kita hands out.

Set that against the statutory minimum for leave. Section 3 BUrlG gives at least 24 Werktage a year, and Werktage are all calendar days that are not Sundays or public holidays, so Saturdays count. On a five-day week, 24 Werktage are 20 working days.

Most contracts give more than the statutory minimum, so check yours. The point of the table is that at the maximum, one parent cannot cover the closures alone with the legal minimum, and two parents who cover them use up most of their combined leave. Our page on leave entitlement and part-time calculation covers how your own number is worked out.

What the Law Gives You for a Planned Closure

Less than parents expect. There is no statutory paid day off for a planned Kita closure.

• Section 616 BGB lets a worker keep their pay when prevented from working for a relatively short time for a personal reason through no fault of their own. Familienportal.NRW discusses it for a Kita strike and notes that contracts, works agreements and collective agreements can exclude it explicitly. For a closure announced months in advance, Section 616 is a weak basis, so do not plan around it, and read your contract.
• Annual leave is the usual cover. Familienportal.NRW calls taking a leave day the fallback “when all else fails”, and for those without leave left, an unpaid release or negative hours on a time account, to be worked off later.

Annual Leave: Who Decides, and How to Ask

Section 7 BUrlG is the rule for timing. When leave is scheduled, the employee’s wishes are to be taken into account, unless urgent operational concerns or the leave wishes of other employees who deserve priority on social grounds stand in the way. Leave is to be granted in one block unless urgent operational reasons or reasons in the employee’s person require splitting, and leave must be granted and taken in the current calendar year. Carry-over into the next year is allowed only for urgent operational or personal reasons, and then the leave must be taken in the first three months.

Three practical consequences follow.

1. Ask the day the dates are published. Colleagues with children compete for the same school-holiday weeks. A request made first is easier to approve.
2. Put the closure dates in the request. The law leaves open who counts as deserving priority, so say plainly that your Kita is closed and that you cannot arrange care.
3. Agree who in the family covers what. If both parents work, split the closure days between you, as Familienportal.NRW suggests, so one parent does not use the whole leave budget.

When Your Child Is Ill: Kinderkrankengeld

Kinderkrankengeld is for a sick child, not for a closed Kita. Section 45 SGB V pays Krankengeld when a doctor certifies that you must stay away from work to look after your sick, insured child, provided no other person in the household can do it and the child is under 12 (or disabled and dependent on help). For 2026, paragraph 2a sets the entitlement at 15 working days per child and parent, and 30 for single parents, with a cap of 35 days (70 for single parents) per insured parent. The benefit is 90 percent of the lost net pay, and the law gives you a right to unpaid release from work for the days of the entitlement, which your contract cannot exclude. Our page on Kinderkrankengeld in Cologne explains how to get the certificate and claim.

The two rules meet when a child falls ill on a closure day: the closure does not create the entitlement, the illness does. Keep the doctor’s certificate.

Elternzeit as a Tool for a Closure Block

Elternzeit is usually discussed for the baby year, but the BEEG also covers older Kita children. Section 15 BEEG gives the right until the child’s third birthday and allows up to 24 months of the entitlement to be taken between the third and the eighth birthday. It requires that you live with the child and look after it yourself. Parents who have not used their full share can therefore take a block, for example the summer closure.

What the notice rules require:

• Seven weeks’ notice in text form for a period before the third birthday, 13 weeks for a period between the third and the eighth birthday.
• Up to three sections per parent. A further split needs the employer’s agreement. For a third section after the child turns three, the employer may refuse within eight weeks for urgent operational reasons.
• Annual leave cut. Section 17 BEEG lets the employer reduce annual leave by one twelfth for each full calendar month of Elternzeit, unless you work part-time for the same employer during it.
• It is unpaid by the employer. It suits a long closure or a planned family block better than a few single days.

Our page on requesting Elternzeit in Cologne covers notice, the separate Elterngeld application and dismissal protection, and the page on health insurance during Elternzeit covers who keeps paying contributions.

Asking for Flexibility

Familienportal.NRW lists options to clarify with your employer before a closure: mobile work, flexible start and end times, shifting hours to other days, a time account with plus hours to use or minus hours to build up, unpaid special leave, and, in suitable jobs and with the employer’s consent, taking your child to work. None of them is presented as a legal right. They work better as a plan agreed in advance than as a request on the evening before.

Money: Fees and What Is Not Refunded

Familienportal.NRW says that parent contributions are a special kind of contribution, so the obligation to pay can continue even when care is limited, and that meal money follows your contract. The sources read for this page describe no fee reduction for planned closure days. Our page on Cologne Kita fees explains the fee scale, and the page on emergency care when your Kita closes covers the Jugendamt’s duty to secure alternative care in the holidays and what to do about unplanned closures.

What Is Changing

The Landtag adopted a reform of the KiBiz on 16 July 2026. According to the state’s press release it takes effect on 1 August 2027, at the start of the Kita year 2027/28. The section numbers on this page come from the consolidated text of 2022, and the state’s KiTa-Portal NRW describes the same 20 and 27 rule for the version in force since 1 August 2026. Check the closure-day sentence again when the reformed version takes effect.

Planning Calendar for Parents

1. At the start of the Kita year (1 August): get the closure plan from your Kita and enter every date in your calendar.
2. Within a week: divide the closure days between the two parents and write down who takes which.
3. Request leave immediately for the long blocks, summer and Christmas, citing the closure dates.
4. Check your contract for Section 616 BGB, home office rules and the number of leave days.
5. Decide about Elternzeit early if you want it for a block, since the notice is 7 or 13 weeks.
6. For the remaining gap, ask the Kita in writing about holiday care and use the Jugendamt route.
7. Keep a small reserve of leave for sick days beyond the Kinderkrankengeld entitlement.

If Your Employer Says No

• Ask for the reason in writing and for the alternatives the employer would accept, such as other dates or unpaid release.
• Speak to the works council (Betriebsrat), if there is one, or to the HR contact responsible for family matters.
• Do not stay away without agreement. An unexcused absence can have employment consequences, which this page does not describe.
• Get legal advice from a lawyer specializing in employment law or from a union if you are a member, before you act on a refusal.

Compliance Note

This page explains the general legal framework for parents’ options at work when a Kita in NRW closes, current as of October 2026. Contracts, collective agreements and works agreements can change what applies to you, and the Kinderkrankengeld numbers are those for 2026. It is not legal advice. Confirm your situation with your employer, a lawyer specializing in employment law, your Krankenkasse, or your Kita and the Amt für Kinder, Jugend und Familie.