Q. Is it possible to claim travel and accommodation expenses when attending an industry event or conference? If so, would it have to be related to a contract or would it be sufficient if it was directly related to your line of work?
A. Employees who travel to work-related training where the cost of their journey is paid for or reimbursed by, or on behalf of, their employer or a third party, are entitled to relief for the amount paid or reimbursed by their employer. They are also entitled to relief for incidental overnight expenses where the appropriate conditions are met. But employees are not entitled to relief for expenses they pay out of their own funds and which their employer does not reimburse.
The definition of work-related training is wide enough to cover most types of training in genuine workplace skills. But it does not include training offered as a reward or an inducement. So a sales techniques course in the UK for a company’s sales team will be work-related training but a conference in the Seychelles for the firm’s top ten salesmen will not.
Presumably the Q is about contractors, so why is the A about employees?
Because that is what HMRC booklet 490 states & directors are employees of their own companies. Thus the reference to employees is equally applicable to contractors.