A communication method and an apparatus are provided, so that a terminal device can flexibly perform a handover procedure in a multicast service scenario. The method includes: sending, by a source access device, a first message to an access controller, where the first message is used to request to hand over a terminal device to a target access device, and the first message includes a multicast service context of the terminal device; and receiving, by the source access device, a fifth message from the access controller, wherein the fifth message is used to respond to the message used to request to hand over the terminal device to the target access device, and the fifth message comprises indication information indicating whether to forward multicast service data.