Yorkshire Local Council Systems Hit By Extended Outage

The website, email and telephone systems of a West Yorkshire council have been hit by an extended outage following a power surge that put them out of action on Boxing Day.

The incident disabled parts of the Kirklees Council’s website, as well as its main telephone contact number and email systems, the body said.

Out of contact

The problem means residents haven’t been able to contact the council to arrange needed house repairs or make appointments to register births or deaths.

Dates for holiday bin collection couldn’t be viewed on the site, the council said.

Residents on social media complained they hadn’t been able fix central heating issues or comment on planning applications due to the problem.

Ongoing issues

In an update on Friday, five days after the outage began, the council said its main phone lines were now working, but said it was still “testing” other systems, including the website.

“We will bring these back online as soon as possible, but some systems may not be fully functional straight away,” the council said in a statement. “Some services may also take longer than others to bring back online.”

Public sector organisations have been put under pressure by central government to shift to digital processes in order to cut staffing costs.

Do you know all about public sector IT – the triumph and the tragedy? Take our quiz!