Microsoft issue update as major outage causes global disruption

Outlook emails could face delays for up to 48 hours

The company said the problem began after several of its servers became "unexpectedly unavailable". 

This pushed extra traffic onto the remaining systems, putting them under pressure and affecting access to its services.

Microsoft has described the cause as "elevated load" on its infrastructure, meaning its servers were dealing with more demand than they could handle. It has not attributed the incident to a cyber attack.

The scale of the disruption was reflected in reports to Downdetector, which recorded almost 140,000 complaints about Outlook at around 6pm GMT on Thursday.

Initial attempts to restore normal service did not go as planned, with Microsoft saying its fixes were "not taking as expected". 

By Friday morning, however, the company said it had seen "marginal success" in its recovery work.

Now, in a new update, Microsoft says it is still working to bring its affected 365 services back online, with repairs being rolled out gradually across its infrastructure.

The company has detected some progress, but warned that services are still experiencing inconsistent performance and system capacity has yet to return to normal.

“To protect delayed mail, we’ve extended the email timeout window to 48 hours while queue and backlog processing continues.”

Number of essential services affected in the UK

Police forces, GP surgeries and NHS services across the UK are reporting disruption following the worldwide Microsoft outage, with people being told to pick up the phone if they need urgent assistance.

The Metropolitan Police, Greater Manchester Police and North Yorkshire Police are among those who have warned that some online reporting forms may not work properly. 

Anyone with a time-sensitive but non-emergency matter has been advised to call 101.

South Wales Police and Dyfed-Powys Police have issued similar warnings, asking the public to phone if they need to contact them.

NHS, schools and local authorities have also reported problems

The disruption has also reached healthcare services. Some GP surgeries have asked patients not to use their websites while the problem continues. 

Practices in Hampshire and Shropshire have told people with urgent concerns to call or visit in person.

Pharmacies are facing problems too. A spokesperson for the National Pharmacy Association said the outage had affected communication with GP practices and some patients, meaning “waits may be longer than normal and there may be delays to some prescriptions”.

The disruption has also affected schools and healthcare services, with NHS staff struggling to use Microsoft Teams for remote therapy appointments and Outlook for internal communications.

Some teachers have faced similar problems accessing their emails, calendars and files stored on cloud servers.

MPs turn to alternative communications as Microsoft services fail

The Microsoft outage has disrupted parliamentary work too, with MPs unable to access some products through their official accounts.

A parliamentary spokesperson said the issue had affected email services across the network, but confirmed that backup arrangements had been made to keep business running.

“We are aware of the global issue affecting Microsoft email services, which is impacting users of the parliamentary network. We are working with Microsoft to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

“Alternative communication arrangements are in place, allowing today’s business to continue.”

Other organisations have warned of delays. The Insolvency Service is experiencing problems sending and receiving emails, affecting its Adjudicator Office, although its phone lines are still working. 

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is among the local authorities warning that responses to public enquiries may take longer.

Despite the widespread disruption, several major operations appear to be unaffected. 

Heathrow, Manchester and Stansted airports are all running as usual, while the London Ambulance Service has confirmed that its critical systems do not rely on Microsoft platforms.

UK intelligence operations are also understood to be unaffected. Although some parts of the security services use Microsoft products, sensitive operations are handled through separate systems.