UK government assesses Microsoft outage as police, NHS and businesses hit

The UK government is working with Microsoft to establish the impact of a major global outage that is continuing to cause disruption with Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft 365 services.

The problems began on 12 November and have spread across multiple regions, including UK police forces, government departments, and other public services and businesses.

Defence Minister Luke Pollard confirmed today (13 November) that government engineers were working with Microsoft to assess the impact of the outage. A spokesperson has said there are “robust contingency plans in place to minimise disruption”.

The Metropolitan Police is among several forces affected, warning that online crime reports may not reach officers. Dorset Police, South Wales Police and Thames Valley Police have also reported problems.

The incident is affecting hundreds of thousands of people and impacting government departments, the NHS and businesses that rely on Microsoft’s cloud-based services.

Microsoft executive vice president Charles Lamanna has ruled out a cyberattack and said the firm was “working to address the issue”. The company said the issue was caused by an “elevated load” on its servers, meaning they were experiencing higher-than-normal stress.

UK government working with Microsoft to assess outage

Speaking to Times Radio, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard said government engineers were working with Microsoft, and added: “We’ve already been in touch with Microsoft and the dialogue between our cyber resilience teams across government and Microsoft continues. I want to see this fixed, it is on Microsoft to do so.”

The outage comes just 10 days after the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) called on UK organisations to make urgent improvements to their cyber resilience.

UK police and NHS services disrupted

The outage has affected the ability of several UK police forces to receive reports from the public.

The Metropolitan Police has warned that information submitted through online reporting systems may not reach officers while the problems continue. A post on its website reads:

“Due to a global Microsoft service issue, some online form submissions may be affected. If your report is time-critical but not an emergency, please call 101. In an emergency, call 999.”

Multiple other UK police forces have reported issues. The public is advised to call 101 for non-emergency situations, and 999 for emergencies.

Healthcare services have also been affected. Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust say it is experiencing problems accessing email and other Microsoft services. There have also been reports of problems accessing healthcare information.

Microsoft can’t confirm when services will return

Microsoft has reported some improvement in its efforts to restore services, although disruption continues.

The company said it was seeing positive results after applying a patch to part of its infrastructure responsible for authentication and routing.

In a post on X, the company said: “We determined the elevated load isn’t driven by an increase in traffic, but by a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable; straining the remaining infrastructure. We’re working to safely return them to service.”

We determined the elevated load isn’t driven by an increase in traffic, but by a number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable; straining the remaining infrastructure. We’re working to safely return them to service. More info under EX1550543 and MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365 admin center, as well as https://t.co/pYdahqxDv3 if the admin center is not available to you.

— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) November 12, 2026

How is the Microsoft outage affecting UK businesses?

For businesses, the outage has highlighted the risks of depending on a single technology provider for essential operations.

Microsoft 365 is widely used for email, meetings, document management and communication with customers and suppliers.

For SMEs, disruption to communications with government customers, prime contractors and supply chain partners can have consequences beyond the immediate loss of email.

Businesses may be unable to exchange project documentation, coordinate technical work or respond to urgent customer requests.

NCSC warning to businesses: Resilience can no longer be an afterthought

The global Microsoft disruption follows a series of recent warnings from the UK government and its cyber security agencies about the need for businesses to strengthen their resilience.

On 3 November, the NSCS published its State of the Cyber Nation report, warning that UK organisations needed to make significant changes to their approach to cyber security.

NCSC Chief Executive, Dr Richard Horne, highlighted the danger posed by organisations failing to address longstanding cyber weaknesses in their digital infrastructure, describing it as a potential “moment of choice”. He warned that vulnerabilities which have been tolerated for years could now be discovered and exploited “at a scale that was once unimaginable”.

Although Microsoft’s outage isn’t believed to be a cyberattack, it demonstrates who failures in widely used technology services can disrupt businesses and public services, regardless of their cause.