diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 07ff500dfea..62e43b798f7 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ gem 'oj', '~> 2.17.4'
 gem 'chronic', '~> 0.10.2'
 gem 'chronic_duration', '~> 0.10.6'
 
-gem 'sass-rails', '~> 5.0.6'
+gem 'sassc-rails', '~> 1.3.0'
 gem 'coffee-rails', '~> 4.1.0'
 gem 'uglifier', '~> 2.7.2'
 gem 'gitlab-turbolinks-classic', '~> 2.5', '>= 2.5.6'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index e2d7f94e571..2d31c5e6cb0 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -675,12 +675,17 @@ GEM
     sanitize (2.1.0)
       nokogiri (>= 1.4.4)
     sass (3.4.22)
-    sass-rails (5.0.6)
-      railties (>= 4.0.0, < 6)
-      sass (~> 3.1)
-      sprockets (>= 2.8, < 4.0)
-      sprockets-rails (>= 2.0, < 4.0)
-      tilt (>= 1.1, < 3)
+    sassc (1.11.1)
+      bundler
+      ffi (~> 1.9.6)
+      sass (>= 3.3.0)
+    sassc-rails (1.3.0)
+      railties (>= 4.0.0)
+      sass
+      sassc (~> 1.9)
+      sprockets (> 2.11)
+      sprockets-rails
+      tilt
     sawyer (0.8.1)
       addressable (>= 2.3.5, < 2.6)
       faraday (~> 0.8, < 1.0)
@@ -980,7 +985,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   ruby-prof (~> 0.16.2)
   rugged (~> 0.24.0)
   sanitize (~> 2.0)
-  sass-rails (~> 5.0.6)
+  sassc-rails (~> 1.3.0)
   scss_lint (~> 0.47.0)
   seed-fu (~> 2.3.5)
   select2-rails (~> 3.5.9)
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/switch-to-sassc.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/switch-to-sassc.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3e6c4baf6d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/switch-to-sassc.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+title: Switch to sassc-rails for faster stylesheet compilation
+merge_request: 8556
+author: Richard Macklin