Capita faces injunction threat over 'pirated' school software

Capita sold software to Education Software Solutions for £400m as part of John Lewis's £1.1bn debt relief effort pounds. Photo: Stuart Nicol

Capita is threatening an injunction after it allegedly provided software it sold to private wealth for £400m to schools in Northern Ireland without a license.

Education Software Solutions (ESS) has asked the High Court to intervene in a row that risks disrupting 1,100 public schools. The ESS system helps them track attendance and record important safety information.

Capita sold software to Montagu private equity firm ESS for £400m in 2020 as part of CEO John Lewis' efforts to reduce the debt burden by £1.1 billion.

The outsourcer continued to license the software to schools in Northern Ireland, but ESS claims the license expired in March.

Capita disputes this, telling the court that it accepted the «commercial terms» offered by ESS to renew the license during a phone call.

ESS wants the High Court to declare that a valid extension has not been made and threaten to apply an injunction against software removal across Northern Ireland.

Around 1,100 public schools in Northern Ireland could be forced to remove copies of Capita-provided software that ESS claims is in fact pirated.

A spokesperson for Capita said: “Capita completely denies ESS' allegations and intends to vigorously defend its position in any subsequent litigation.”

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The High Court action came after the Competition and Markets Authority closed an investigation into ESS in January for alleged abuse of dominant position.

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Schools have complained that in 2021, ESS began blocking their three-year SIMS contracts without prior notice, as they had previously allowed them to renew their contracts annually.

Watchdogs adopted the ESS plan allowing some schools to terminate their SIMS contracts before the end of the three-year period.

Anne Pope, senior director of competition enforcement, said in January that the agreement would «support competition» by giving schools «more choice and ESS competitors additional chances to compete».