diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 35e230b53..cc3cc7900 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ val languageToolVersion = "6.0"
 val awsSdkVersion = "1.12.576"
 val capiModelsVersion = "17.5.1"
 val capiClientVersion = "19.2.1"
+val pandaVersion = "3.0.1"
 val circeVersion = "0.14.1"
 val scalikejdbcVersion = scalikejdbc.ScalikejdbcBuildInfo.version
 val scalikejdbcPlayVersion = "2.8.0-scalikejdbc-3.5"
@@ -37,15 +38,6 @@ def javaVersionNumber = {
   IO.read(new File(".java-version"))
 }
 
-def removeStartingOne(javaVersionString: String): String = {
-  val startsWithOne = "^1\\.".r
-  startsWithOne.replaceAllIn(javaVersionString, "")
-}
-
-def parseJavaVersionNumber(javaVersionString: String): String = {
-  removeStartingOne(javaVersionString).split('.').head
-}
-
 val jackson = {
   val version = "2.14.2"
   Seq(
@@ -77,11 +69,11 @@ val commonSettings = Seq(
   libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
     "com.amazonaws" % "aws-java-sdk-secretsmanager" % awsSdkVersion,
     "net.logstash.logback" % "logstash-logback-encoder" % "7.2",
-    "org.scalatestplus.play" %% "scalatestplus-play" % "5.1.0" % Test,
+    "org.scalatestplus.play" %% "scalatestplus-play" % "6.0.1" % Test,
     "com.softwaremill.diffx" %% "diffx-scalatest-should" % "0.8.2" % Test,
     "org.mockito" %% "mockito-scala-scalatest" % "1.17.12",
     "com.gu" %% "simple-configuration-ssm" % "1.6.4",
-    "com.gu" %% "pan-domain-auth-play_2-8" % "1.2.1",
+    "com.gu" %% "pan-domain-auth-play_2-9" % pandaVersion,
     "com.google.api-client" % "google-api-client" % "2.0.1",
     "com.google.apis" % "google-api-services-sheets" % "v4-rev20221216-2.0.0",
     "org.languagetool" % "languagetool-core" % languageToolVersion,
@@ -90,7 +82,7 @@ val commonSettings = Seq(
     "com.gu" %% "content-api-models-json" % capiModelsVersion,
     "com.gu" %% "content-api-client-aws" % "0.7",
     "com.gu" %% "content-api-client-default" % capiClientVersion,
-    "com.gu" %% "panda-hmac-play_2-8" % "2.2.0",
+    "com.gu" %% "panda-hmac-play_2-9" % pandaVersion,
     "net.sourceforge.htmlcleaner" % "htmlcleaner" % "2.29",
     "com.scalawilliam" %% "xs4s-core" % "0.9.1",
     "ch.qos.logback" % "logback-classic" % "1.4.4", // manually overwriting logback-classic to resolve issue in Play framework: https://github.com/playframework/playframework/issues/11499
@@ -105,7 +97,7 @@ val commonLib = (project in file(s"$appsFolder/common-lib"))
     libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
       ws,
       // @todo – we're repeating ourselves. Can we derive this from the plugin?
-      "com.typesafe.play" %% "play" % "2.8.19",
+      "com.typesafe.play" %% "play" % "2.9.2",
     )
   )
 
@@ -126,15 +118,6 @@ def playProject(label: String, projectName: String, domainPrefix: String, devHtt
         s"-J-Xloggc:/var/log/${packageName.value}/gc.log"
       ),
       commonSettings,
-      initialize := {
-        val _ = initialize.value
-        val expectedJavaVersion = parseJavaVersionNumber(javaVersionNumber)
-        val actualJavaVersion = removeStartingOne(sys.props("java.specification.version"))
-        assert(
-          expectedJavaVersion.equals(actualJavaVersion),
-          s"Java $expectedJavaVersion is required for this project. You are using Java $actualJavaVersion."
-        )
-      },
     )
 
 val checker = playProject(
diff --git a/project/build.properties b/project/build.properties
index 22af2628c..b089b60c7 100644
--- a/project/build.properties
+++ b/project/build.properties
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-sbt.version=1.7.1
+sbt.version=1.9.9
+
diff --git a/project/plugins.sbt b/project/plugins.sbt
index 4ab9823f4..9c4e2a272 100644
--- a/project/plugins.sbt
+++ b/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.play" % "sbt-plugin" % "2.8.19")
+addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.play" % "sbt-plugin" % "2.9.2")
 addSbtPlugin("com.gu" % "sbt-riffraff-artifact" % "1.1.18")
 addSbtPlugin("io.gatling" % "gatling-sbt" % "3.0.0")
 addSbtPlugin("com.eed3si9n" % "sbt-buildinfo" % "0.9.0")