Global Microsoft 365 and Outlook outage: what we know about the impact in the UK
On 13 November 2026, users of Microsoft services around the world, including UK organisations, reported problems with Outlook email and the Microsoft 365 platform. Microsoft said the cause was not a cyber-security incident.
Author: Thames Compass editorial teamPublished: 2 min read
On Friday 13 November 2026, Microsoft services suffered problems around the world. UK organisations' notices point mainly to email: public bodies, hospitals and councils said their staff could not send or receive messages.
Cause and scope
Microsoft said it was investigating infrastructure issues affecting its Microsoft 365 platform. One NHS body listed Outlook and Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Microsoft Copilot among the services potentially affected. Users may have faced intermittent connection problems, difficulty accessing mailboxes, and delays in sending or receiving emails.
According to Renfrewshire Council, the company stated that the outage was not caused by a cyber-security breach. The BBC's description of the story also says the outage was not caused by a cyber-security incident.
State of recovery
Later on 13 November, The Insolvency Service, a UK government agency, said email problems appeared to be easing, although some disruption could continue in the short term. Renfrewshire Council reported at 3.45pm that the system had improved, but Microsoft had not yet closed the incident. Meanwhile, an NHS body said there was no confirmed time for full service restoration.
What this means for you
The sources do not refer to specific effects on any particular community. If you work for an organisation that uses Microsoft 365, or if you contact a public office by email, your replies may have been delayed. The National Archives asked people to hold back non-urgent enquiries until normal service resumed.
The Security Industry Authority, which issues licences for security work, said some response times could be slower than normal, although it could still grant, refuse, revoke and suspend licences.
Sources
This article was prepared automatically by AI from the listed sources and published without prior editorial review. Spotted a mistake? Use the “Report an error in this article” button.
Photos
- Cover: „bulletin board, laptop, computer, stickies, post-it”, author: geralt, licence Pixabay Content License; cropped or resized.
- Photo 1: „glass, reflection, lights, door, stock”, author: StockSnap, licence Pixabay Content License; cropped or resized.
Tags
Share with friends
