Various surveys have confirmed that there is a crisis of recruitment and retention of teachers in schools. This article examines the government response to this crisis, in particular to what is commonly cited as the main cause--unmanageable workloads. What it describes as the workload challenge has certainly not been ignored by the DfE, which in February 2017 produced an updated document detailing the steps it had taken in an attempt to reduce teacher workload. However, although it has taken the workload challenge seriously, it has downplayed some of the factors which even its own commissioned research has shown to be important. This article argues that, while it is certainly a step in the right direction, addressing the workload issue alone will not resolve the crisis.