Microsoft reported progress restoring services in Europe at 12:00 GMT on Friday, but UK courts, police and health services were still dealing with a global outage.
Detected on Thursday after 17:00 GMT, the disruption affected at least 74 countries. Microsoft said users of its Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Teams and Copilot, were having trouble connecting.
Across Britain and Europe, the outage had lasted nearly 17 hours. Microsoft said its fixes had produced partial results, warning services could become unresponsive again after being restored. It was still working on recovery and hadn't set a timetable for full restoration.
We’re continuing to work on recovering our frontend servers while implementing further traffic optimisation actions to improve service stability and increase capacity
Servers had become unexpectedly unavailable, Microsoft said, putting pressure on the infrastructure that remained in service. The company ruled out a cyber attack.
Court decisions face possible delays
Civil courts usually send judgments by email before publishing them on Bailii and the Judiciary website. Among the government bodies using Microsoft platforms such as Outlook is the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, leaving that usual route affected by the disruption.
City AM said a plan was being arranged to give journalists and parties access to legal decisions. Some judgments could be delayed until Monday, though it remained uncertain whether Friday's decisions would be issued on time.
MPs had lost access to Microsoft products through their parliamentary accounts, a parliamentary spokesperson said, but other ways to communicate had been arranged so business at Westminster could proceed.
Alternative communication arrangements are in place, allowing today's business to continue.
Public services give alternative contact routes
Reports of disruption came from police forces in the Metropolitan, Dorset, South Wales and Thames Valley areas. The Met said online crime reports might not reach officers and advised people to telephone about urgent matters.
GPs and pharmacies were also among affected services. Some GP surgeries asked patients to stop sending messages through their websites, while NHS services reported problems accessing Rapid Health, a platform GP practices use for online consultations.
| Service | Disruption | Advice or arrangement |
|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan Police | Online crime reports may not reach officers | Call 101 for urgent non-emergency matters or 999 in an emergency |
| GP surgeries | Some were affected | Some asked patients not to send messages through their websites |
| HMRC | Email was unavailable | Phone lines were working; use online services |
| UK Parliament | Access to Microsoft products through parliamentary accounts was down | Alternative communication arrangements were in place |
Ambulance and NHS trusts were seriously affected by the outage, Rachel Harrison, national secretary at the GMB union, said. Staff in 111 services couldn't refer patient details, creating a backlog.
Those who work in 111 services are unable to refer patient details, which is creating a massive backlog and has the potential for chaos
An HMRC spokesperson told City AM that its email was down but its phone lines were working as expected. The spokesperson also encouraged people to use online services.
Staff at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) were understood to be unable to access email. City AM reported that the Cabinet Office was unaffected because it uses Google, while a government spokesperson said contingency plans were in place to limit disruption.
Government engineers were working with Microsoft to assess the problems, defence minister Luke Pollard said.
I want to see this fixed; it is on Microsoft to do so.
Days before the outage, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre had called on businesses to improve their ability to withstand technology failures and supply chain disruption. Businesses had concentrated on the efficiencies of automation, AI and digital systems while giving less attention to what happens when those systems stop, said Elisa Sofocli, a partner at Blick Rothenberg.
We have spent a significant amount of time focusing on the efficiencies that automation, AI and digital systems bring. Perhaps not enough about what happens when they stop working
Singapore's government said some of its systems were affected, while emergency services remained fully operational. Courts in Singapore reported email problems and urged people to telephone about urgent matters. On Friday morning, Euronext, the European stock market operator, told listed companies to share corporate information by phone because Outlook was disrupted.
- ThursdayOutage detected
The disruption was detected after 17:00 GMT.
- FridayRecovery update
At 12:00 GMT, Microsoft reported progress in Europe.
- MondayPossible court delay
Some civil court judgments could be delayed until then.
