Microsoft has been hit by a major global outage, with West Sussex County Council and Sussex Police among organisations affected.

Problems were first reported around 6pm on Thursday, November 12, with ongoing issues impacting millions of users across more than 70 countries.

Businesses and government agencies are among those feeling the affects of the Microsoft outage, which are related to Microsoft 365 software including Teams and Outlook. Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant, is also experiencing disruption.

West Sussex County Council are asking people to contact them by telephone as their emails and other systems are ‘not working as expected’.

Microsoft said on November 12 that efforts to repair a major outage of Outlook were not going as expected and the firm was seeking alternative solutions as users around the world were left without its crucial services. Picture by MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images

placeholder image — Microsoft said on November 12 that efforts to repair a major outage of Outlook were not going as expected and the firm was seeking alternative solutions as users around the world were left without its crucial services. Picture by MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP via Getty Images

Sussex Police, meanwhile, are urging people to use 999 for emergencies and 101 for non-emergency issues as ‘some online form submissions’ may be affected by the outage.

A West Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “We are currently being affected by the global Microsoft outage meaning our emails and other systems are not working as expected.

“Please bear with us if you are contacting us today or waiting for a response.

“Our phonelines remain open, however, some services may be unavailable.

“We will share an update once systems are back to normal and we thank you for your patience.

“Please share this message with people who may not otherwise see this.”

A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: “Due to a global Microsoft service issue, some online form submissions may be affected.

“If your report is time-critical but not an emergency, please call 101. In an emergency, call 999.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding while this is ongoing.”

Microsoft say the outage is not the result of a cyber-security incident, but their efforts to get services back up and running have been largely unsuccessful.