Microsoft restores Outlook after outage hits UK courts, NHS and emergency services

Microsoft says its Outlook and other services are nearing normal levels after a global outage disrupted courts, NHS trusts, and emergency services across the UK. The fault began Thursday evening, affecting products like Teams, Copilot, and Microsoft 365. The outage hit major institutions including the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade, Parliament, and the Supreme Court, with schools and businesses also affected. Microsoft reported recovery progress by Friday afternoon, though some users may still face intermittent access or delayed email delivery. Microsoft found no evidence of malicious activity, and 999 services and NHS 111 remained operational throughout. The incident has raised questions about reliance on single technology providers, with experts suggesting such platforms should be treated as critical national infrastructure.