A global Microsoft outage has prevented several UK police forces from receiving online crime reports, prompting officers to direct people to telephone reporting while repairs continue.

The Metropolitan Police and Hertfordshire Police warned that some website form submissions might be affected. Both advised anyone whose report was time-critical but not an emergency to call 101, and to use 999 in an emergency.

Dorset Police said it was unable to receive online form submissions. It asked people whose reports could wait to submit a form once Microsoft restored the service. Anyone reporting a time-critical, non-emergency matter should call 101; those reporting a crime in progress or a life in danger should call 999.

Dyfed-Powys Police reported disruption to both its website reporting system and its general contact centre email address. It advised people making non-urgent reports to call 101 or send a direct message to the force’s Facebook account.

The warnings describe different levels of disruption: the Met and Hertfordshire said some submissions might be affected, while Dorset reported that it could not receive online forms. For people trying to contact police, the immediate issue is whether their chosen reporting route is working, rather than whether they can open the website.

Microsoft services were hit late on Thursday night, disrupting access to Teams, Outlook and the artificial intelligence tool Copilot. Problems were reported in more than 70 countries. OpenAI and Anthropic also experienced disruption.

The government said it was working closely with Microsoft to assess the impact on government services, with contingency plans in place to minimise disruption across Whitehall.

Microsoft said the problem had not been caused by a cyber security breach. The company had been attempting repairs since Thursday night but acknowledged that fixes were “not taking as expected”. Until services are restored, affected forces are directing people towards alternative reporting channels.