Can I claim for training courses and equipment as a self-employed freelancer?

Training that updates or maintains skills you already use in your current business is allowable, but training to learn a brand new skill or move into a different field generally isn't, because HMRC treats that as improving you personally rather than maintaining your existing trade.

Equipment genuinely needed for your work — a laptop, camera, specialist software, a desk — is deductible, though larger, longer-lasting items are usually claimed as a capital allowance rather than a one-off expense. Mixed-use equipment (a laptop you also use personally) needs a reasonable business-use apportionment, not a full claim just because it's sometimes used for work. This is one of the areas HMRC checks fairly often, since the line between “maintaining my skills” and “retraining into something new” is genuinely a judgement call — if you've done a course you're not sure falls clearly on one side or the other, it's worth checking before you claim it rather than after.