In our previous posts about the churn in MIS we have focused on the analysis of data gleaned from the census returns of maintained schools in England. This has traditionally been the statistics looked at because it has proven difficult to obtain data from the other UK regions.
However, we have been able to piece together data from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to provide a better picture of the MIS being used across the entire UK.
When we last posted about the MIS statistics for maintained schools in England (https://www.whichmis.com/mis-market-churn-spring-2025/) we saw that
SIMS had lost market share, with Arbor and Bromcom gaining:
Now we can look at the data for maintained schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland too.
For many years, SIMS had all 1,470 schools in Wales and all 1,116 schools in Northern Ireland.
In Scotland, the SEEMiS ‘Click ‘n Go’ MIS platform was created specifically for the Scottish schools’ market. SEEMiS is owned by the 32 Scottish Local Authorities and the ‘Click ‘n Go’ MIS is used in all 2,445 schools.
Whilst this remains the case in Scotland, despite recent rumours of potential dissatisfaction with the platform, the position in Wales and Northern Ireland has changed significantly.
In Northern Ireland, Bromcom won the tender to provide their MIS to all 1,116 schools, with SIMS set to lose all these schools, with all schools scheduled to be using Bromcom by the end of this year.
In Wales, in 2008, Ceredigion created its own Wales-specific MIS, Teacher Centre, which was originally used across its 36 primary schools. Teacher Centre was then gradually taken on by Powys (79 primary schools), Pembrokeshire (53) and Carmarthenshire (98), giving them a total of 266 schools or 18.2% of the market there.
Over recent years, both Bromcom and Arbor have also targeted the Welsh schools’ market, with some success.
Bromcom have won four Welsh Authorities – Wrexham (59 schools), Rhondda (96), Swansea (80) and the 7 secondary schools in Ceredigion itself, giving Bromcom a total of 284 schools or 19.32% market share.
Arbor have also had success in Wales, winning 53 schools in the Vale of Glamorgan which gives them a market share in Wales of 3.63%.
The above successes by Bromcom, Arbor and Teacher Centre leave SIMS with just 867 of their original 1,470, or 59%.
If we take all the above data for Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, we see a picture of the MIS scene across the whole UK market:
If we look at the market shares for the entire UK maintained schools market, we see the following:
- 32.6% SIMS
- 27.3% ARBOR
- 15.3% BROMCOM
- 9.0% SEEMiS
- 5.2% INTEGRIS
- 4.5% SCHOLARPACK
- 1.0% TEACHER CENTRE
- 0.8% PUPIL ASSET
- 0.4% IRIS Ed:gen
- 3.9% Others
Remember, however, that Arbor, Integris and ScholarPack are all owned by The Key Group and that they have stated that both Integris and ScholarPack will be made ‘end of life’ with all their schools planned to be moved to Arbor.
This would give Arbor a combined market share of 37% of the overall UK MIS sector, making them easily the largest MIS provider, well above SIMS.
So, the overall UK MIS position in many ways reflects that of the English school market. However, big inroads are being made in Wales and Northern Ireland, with dissatisfaction being seen in Scotland where the ‘Click ‘n Go’ MIS has not seen significant change for many years.
Will these trends continue? Only time will tell, but given the churn we are already seeing, it seems very likely that Wales will continue to be a ripe market for MIS change, and we wait to see who the winners here will be.
Northern Ireland has already made their choice and Bromcom is being rolled out across all their schools this year.
Scotland is a tough nut to crack though. There are specific requirements here for any MIS trying to win schools, alongside the fact that the local Authorities themselves are the joint owners of SEEMiS and the current ‘Click ‘n Go’ MIS, with a 24-month notice period required for any of them to pull out of this partnership.
However, we are aware of the fact that some of the Scottish Local Authorities are unhappy, wanting an up-to-date, cloud-based MIS that offers them all the functionality that they are seeing other UK schools enjoying and are beginning to explore their options…
As ever, we will keep updating the position around MIS usage.
