The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it suspects that Education Software Solutions (ESS) may have been abusing its dominant market position by making it difficult for schools to change providers ahead of contract renewals.
It follows complaints from a number of schools and local authorities to the CMA, with the regulator revealing that it is aware of “widespread concerns” in the education sector over the alleged behaviour, according to the CMA.
ESS is the UK’s largest provider of management information systems – used to handle student information such as attendance and safeguarding – with a share of around half of the market in England and even higher across Wales and Northern Ireland.
ESS is owned by ParentPay – the Coventry-based payment platform for schools.
The CMA said schools have reported that ESS is warning them they would not be able to share a copy of their database with a new provider, claiming it would breach ESS’s intellectual property rights, despite being an established practice in the sector.
The regulator said that without being able…
