Three London boroughs, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster City Council, and Hammersmith and Fulham Council have confirmed they were hit by a serious cyberattack on their shared computer systems.

This led to the activation of emergency plans and big problems with their services.

The incident knocked out phone lines, online portals and internal networks affecting services like council tax checks and waste collection scheduling.

Council workers were told to use only monitored phone lines and emails meanwhile, services like social care and emergency help were given top priority.

Authorities say they are working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and external experts to restore systems and assess whether personal data was accessed.

A formal notification has been submitted to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), though at this stage it remains too early to confirm a breach of residents’ information.

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Residents in the affected borough have been warned to expect delays, especially for non-urgent services and to check official council communications for updates.