Global Microsoft outage disrupts services across North East

Summarised from 3 outlets · 6 reports · Updated 14 Nov, 11:27 · Archive

A global Microsoft outage disrupted Outlook, Teams and other services, affecting police forces, councils and NHS organisations across the North East.

A global Microsoft outage that began late on Thursday and continued into Friday disrupted Outlook emails, Teams and other services for hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The UK Government and organisations across the world were forced to put in place contingency measures.

North East organisations were significantly affected. Northumbria Police and Durham Constabulary both reported being unable to receive reports made through their websites. Local authorities including Newcastle City Council, Northumberland County Council, Gateshead Council and Durham County Council experienced disruption to email systems. NHS trusts, Durham University, Northumbrian Water and cultural venues including Newcastle Theatre Royal and Tyne Theatre & Opera House also reported issues. South Tyneside Council reassured residents that telephones remained working and its customer service team could be contacted urgently despite the disruption.

Rail companies warned passengers might have trouble accessing tickets sent by email. LNER said people could still access tickets by logging into their account through the website or app. The Department for Work and Pensions confirmed that no DWP payments to customer bank accounts were affected by the outage, though some people using the Payment Exception Service were advised to call the helpline on 0800 015 2902 for assistance.

Microsoft said it was working with urgency to find a fix, attempting several solutions including isolating parts of its infrastructure and shifting traffic to alternate routes. Microsoft executive vice-president Charles Lamanna said the outages did not appear to be the result of a cyber attack. The company stated on Friday that services were being gradually restored, with email services beginning to return.

By Saturday morning, Microsoft said it had completed efforts to address the issue and restored service to all remaining impacted customers and regions. The tech giant confirmed the outage was caused by a technical issue not related to cyber or AI agents. Northumbria Police confirmed on social media that the technical issues affecting online reporting had been resolved.

How it is being reported

• Microsoft issues update after global outage affected police, councils and NHSMany organisations in the North East were also impacted including Northumbria Police and Durham ConstabularyChronicleLive · 14 Nov, 10:57
• DWP issues update on whether payments will be affected after Microsoft outageA number of organisations in the North East were affected by the outage on Friday, including police forces, councils and NHS trustsChronicleLive · 13 Nov, 14:17
• All you need to know as global Microsoft outage affects North East organisationsThousands of people have been unable to access many of Microsoft's most popular services, including sending and receiving emails through OutlookChronicleLive · 13 Nov, 11:41
• South Tyneside Council 'experiencing disruption' to services due to Microsoft outageSouth Tyneside Council has reassured residents that telephones are working and the customer service team can be contacted urgently, despite disruption to some services due to the Microsoft outage.Shields Gazette · 13 Nov, 10:30
• How global Microsoft outage is affecting SunderlandA major global Microsoft outage has caused problems across Sunderland as services across the globe are affected and in some cases, disabled.Sunderland Echo · 13 Nov, 10:19
• Full list of North East services affected by Microsoft outage on FridayNorthumbria Police, Durham Constabulary, Newcastle City Council, Northumberland County Council and Durham University are among those reporting issuesChronicleLive · 13 Nov, 09:50

In this story: Microsoft · Northumbria Police · Durham Constabulary · Newcastle City Council · Durham County Council · South Tyneside Council · North East

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log