diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f374652ac4..9adef35718 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## 1.14dev
 
 * Fixed an issue in the pipeline template regarding explicit disabling of unused container engines [[#972](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/972)]
+* Fix overly strict `--max_time` formatting regex in template schema [[#973](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/issues/973)]
 
 ## [v1.13.3 - Copper Crocodile Resurrection :crocodile:](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/releases/tag/1.13.2) - [2021-03-24]
 
diff --git a/nf_core/pipeline-template/nextflow_schema.json b/nf_core/pipeline-template/nextflow_schema.json
index 5cfc02abdc..eb40ed5aa0 100644
--- a/nf_core/pipeline-template/nextflow_schema.json
+++ b/nf_core/pipeline-template/nextflow_schema.json
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@
                     "description": "Maximum amount of time that can be requested for any single job.",
                     "default": "240.h",
                     "fa_icon": "far fa-clock",
-                    "pattern": "^[\\d\\.]+\\.*(s|m|h|d)$",
+                    "pattern": "^(\\d+(\\.\\d+)?(?:\\s*|\\.?)(s|m|h|d)\\s*)+$",
                     "hidden": true,
                     "help_text": "Use to set an upper-limit for the time requirement for each process. Should be a string in the format integer-unit e.g. `--max_time '2.h'`"
                 }