Tony Pidgeon quoted in Schools Week on ESS SIMS

Tony, Head of Stone King’s Dispute Resolution Team, was quoted in an article entitled ‘Competition watchdog pulled into MIS dispute, again’.

The education publication’s article reported on complaints made to the Competition and Markets Authority, relating to contracts signed with management information system ESS SIMS.

The Schools Week report states that the CMA has been called in to intervene after ESS SIMS said that customers would be breaching their contracts if they send copies of their databases to third parties.

ESS SIMS runs around 50 per cent of school management information systems and Stone King has previously taken action against the system’s provider on behalf of over 400 schools.

Tony said in Schools Week: “We believe the stance taken by ESS will have a significant impact throughout the sector on the ability of schools to successfully switch provider and we are in the process of reviewing the matter in detail with those clients.”

Stone King has now been approached by a number of very concerned clients in relation to this issue.

“We have in the past successfully acted on a collective basis for a large group of educational establishments in relation to previous measures ESS sought to implement and we are actively considering whether collective action is again necessary,” added Tony.

If you are concerned about your contract with ESS please contact Tony Pidgeon.

The Schools Week article can be read in full here.