A widespread technology failure affecting Microsoft services has disrupted government agencies, emergency services, healthcare providers and local authorities across Wales. According to BBC News, the outage began on Thursday and has impacted more than 70 countries worldwide, affecting critical applications including Teams, Outlook and the AI software Copilot.
The Welsh government confirmed it was managing the incident through contingency measures. A spokesperson stated:
"We are monitoring the impact on government services and using contingency arrangements as needed."Microsoft indicated it was making progress toward recovery in Europe, though cautioned that
"some users may still experience intermittent issues"and confirmed the disruption was not the result of a cyber-security breach.
The technical cause has been identified as a server process responsible for establishing secure connections becoming overwhelmed, according to ABC13. The company was preparing a configuration change and rolling back a recent network change to address the problem. Reuters reported that the elevated system load stemmed from unexpectedly unavailable servers straining the remaining infrastructure, rather than from increased user traffic.
This incident follows earlier disruptions affecting UK services. GPs, police forces and pharmacies across the UK experienced similar disruption from the same outage, and Northern Ireland schools, councils and health services were similarly affected.
How have emergency services been impacted?
Emergency services in Wales have experienced significant operational challenges. South Wales Police and Dyfed Powys Police (DPP) reported difficulties receiving reports submitted through their websites, with DPP's general contact centre email address also affected. Both forces directed the public to call 101 for non-emergency matters. North Wales Fire and Rescue Service stated it was unable to receive or respond to emails or enquiries submitted via its website, though it assured the public that emergency response capabilities remained fully operational.
What is the situation with healthcare services?
The outage has created delays across the NHS. All health boards indicated there may be delays in receiving, accessing and responding to enquiries. Public Health Wales reported experiencing delays in receiving and responding to emails and online enquiries, although screening services continued without interruption.
How are councils managing the disruption?
Local authorities including Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) have experienced disruption to their email systems. The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), which represents and supports councils, reported that operations
"remain under control"with
"no significant impact on services". A WLGA spokesperson explained that most back-office systems remained unaffected and councils had activated business continuity plans to maintain contact with the public and internally. Councils were using websites and social media to inform residents how to reach their services, primarily through telephone.
The WLGA added:
"If the outage continues into next week, councils may need to consider further contingency arrangements, but this is not currently expected."Natural Resources Wales (NRW) also reported its email and online reporting system was down, directing enquiries to be made by telephone.
Which Microsoft services are affected?
According to Reuters, Microsoft 365 features dependent on Exchange Online and email services were affected, while features that did not rely on Exchange Online remained functional. The outage continued into Asia-Pacific business hours on Friday, with only partial recovery in some regions and no sustained restoration achieved at that point.
What happens next?
Microsoft has not provided a confirmed time for full restoration, with recovery actions and monitoring continuing. The company reported early stabilization and improving email delivery across more affected infrastructure, though warned that some users could still face intermittent issues as systems stabilize.
