diff --git a/docs/changelog_fragments/268.dev.rst b/docs/changelog_fragments/268.dev.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e95af23d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog_fragments/268.dev.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Replaced the deprecated licence configuration in ``pyproject.toml`` with an SPDX licence expression.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b8d60a7c..aac3b800 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [build-system]
 # Defined by PEP 518
 requires = [
-  "setuptools>=64",
+  "setuptools>=77",
   "setuptools_scm[toml]>=7.0",
   "wheel",
 ]
@@ -22,11 +22,11 @@ keywords = [
     "iris",
     "xarray",
 ]
-license = {text = "BSD-3-Clause"}
+license = "BSD-3-Clause"
+license-files = ["LICENSE"]
 classifiers = [
     "Development Status :: 4 - Beta",
     "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
-    "License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License",
     "Natural Language :: English",
     "Operating System :: POSIX",
     "Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux",
@@ -56,9 +56,6 @@ Discussions = "https://github.com/SciTools/ncdata/discussions"
 Documentation = "https://ncdata.readthedocs.io"
 Issues = "https://github.com/SciTools/ncdata/issues"
 
-[tool.setuptools]
-license-files = ["LICENSE"]
-
 [tool.setuptools.dynamic]
 readme = {file = "README.md", content-type = "text/markdown"}