diff --git a/.github/workflows/CI.yml b/.github/workflows/CI.yml
index 306d5bad7..268f82fe1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/CI.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/CI.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
-        gcc_v: [7, 8, 9, 10, 11] # Version of GFortran we want to use.
+        gcc_v: [9, 10, 11] # Version of GFortran we want to use.
     env:
       FC: gfortran-${{ matrix.gcc_v }}
       GCC_V: ${{ matrix.gcc_v }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci_windows.yml b/.github/workflows/ci_windows.yml
index a1070404c..6b780106d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci_windows.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci_windows.yml
@@ -7,41 +7,6 @@ env:
   CTEST_TIME_TIMEOUT: "5"  # some failures hang forever
 
 jobs:
-  Build:
-    runs-on: windows-latest
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-
-    steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
-
-    - name: Install fypp
-      run: pip install fypp
-
-    - run: cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_SH="CMAKE_SH-NOTFOUND" -Wdev -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS_DEBUG="-Wall -Wextra -Wimplicit-interface -fPIC -g -fcheck=all -fbacktrace" -DCMAKE_MAXIMUM_RANK=4
-
-      env:
-        FC: gfortran
-        CC: gcc
-        CXX: g++
-
-    - name: CMake build
-      run: cmake --build build --parallel
-
-    - name: catch build fail
-      run: cmake --build build --verbose --parallel 1
-      if: failure()
-
-    - name: CTest
-      run: ctest --output-on-failure --parallel -V -LE quadruple_precision
-      working-directory: build
-
-    - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v1
-      if: failure()
-      with:
-        name: WindowsCMakeTestlog
-        path: build/Testing/Temporary/LastTest.log
-
   msys2-build:
     runs-on: windows-latest
     strategy:
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4e06b0250..bae75a426 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ add_subdirectory(config)
 
 # --- compiler options
 if(CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL GNU)
+  if(CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_LESS 9.0)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "GCC Version 9 or newer required")
+  endif()
   add_compile_options(-fimplicit-none)
   add_compile_options(-ffree-line-length-132)
   add_compile_options(-Wall)
@@ -27,11 +30,7 @@ if(CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL GNU)
   if(CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_LESS 11.0)
     add_compile_options(-pedantic-errors)
   endif()
-  if(CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL 8.0)
-    add_compile_options(-std=f2018)
-  else()
-    add_compile_options(-std=f2008ts)
-  endif()
+  add_compile_options(-std=f2018)
 elseif(CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL Intel)
   add_compile_options(-warn declarations,general,usage,interfaces,unused)
   if(CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_LESS 18.0)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f87a2ef9d..5615c4bba 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -87,9 +87,8 @@ The following combinations are tested on the default branch of stdlib:
 
 Name | Version | Platform | Architecture
 --- | --- | --- | ---
-GCC Fortran | 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 | Ubuntu 20.04 | x86_64
-GCC Fortran | 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 | MacOS Catalina 10.15 | x86_64
-GCC Fortran | 8 | Windows Server 2019 | x86_64
+GCC Fortran | 9, 10, 11 | Ubuntu 20.04 | x86_64
+GCC Fortran | 9, 10, 11 | MacOS Catalina 10.15 | x86_64
 GCC Fortran (MSYS) | 10 | Windows Server 2019 | x86_64
 GCC Fortran (MinGW) | 10 | Windows Server 2019 | x86_64, i686
 Intel oneAPI classic | 2021.1 | Ubuntu 20.04 | x86_64
@@ -106,7 +105,7 @@ A list of tested compilers which are currently not working and the respective is
 
 Name | Version | Platform | Architecture | Status
 --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
-GCC Fortran | 7.4 | Windows 10 | i686 | [#296](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/issues/296)
+GCC Fortran | <9 | any | any | [#296](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/issues/296), [#430](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/pull/430)
 NVIDIA HPC SDK | 20.7, 20.9, 20.11 | Manjaro Linux 20 | x86_64 | [#107](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/issues/107)
 NAG | 7.0 | RHEL | x86_64 | [#108](https://github.com/fortran-lang/stdlib/issues/108)
 Intel Parallel Studio XE | 16, 17, 18 | OpenSUSE | x86_64 | failed to compile
diff --git a/src/stdlib_string_type.fypp b/src/stdlib_string_type.fypp
index 144cd2716..52f5201f8 100644
--- a/src/stdlib_string_type.fypp
+++ b/src/stdlib_string_type.fypp
@@ -447,9 +447,7 @@ contains
     !> Return the character sequence represented by the string.
     pure function char_string(string) result(character_string)
         type(string_type), intent(in) :: string
-        ! GCC 8 and older cannot evaluate pure derived type procedures here
-        !character(len=len(string)) :: character_string
-        character(len=:), allocatable :: character_string
+        character(len=len(string)) :: character_string
 
         character_string = maybe(string)
 
@@ -1241,9 +1239,7 @@ contains
     !> Safely return the character sequences represented by the string
     pure function maybe(string) result(maybe_string)
         type(string_type), intent(in) :: string
-        ! GCC 8 and older cannot evaluate pure derived type procedures here
-        !character(len=len(string)) :: maybe_string
-        character(len=:), allocatable :: maybe_string
+        character(len=len(string)) :: maybe_string
         if (allocated(string%raw)) then
             maybe_string = string%raw
         else