Our People

Mike Hodge

Mike Hodge is an independent customs consultant covering all aspects of importing and exporting. He has a wide variety of clients from small independent businesses to large multinational corporations.

Before setting up his own practice in 1993, he was the National Director of the Customs Practice at accountants Ernst & Young in London. While there he was responsible for leading many assignments on all customs matters, including a number on customs classification.

One of Mike's specialist areas is challenging (on behalf of clients) back duty claims made by customs.

Mike is a past Chairman and Vice President of the British Importers Association, is a former chairman of the Customs Practitioners Group and is also Vice Chairman of the Customs & Excise Tax Committee of the United Kingdom Warehousing Association.

Barbara Scott

Barbara Scott joined Mike Hodge Associates in September 1999 following 13 years employment as a consultant with both Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young. At Ernst & Young , Barbara predominately worked with US based multinationals advising on import procedures and obtaining duty savings in the UK and throughout Europe. Prior to consultancy, Barbara worked for a British car manufacturer where she dealt with import and export issues worldwide.

Barbara is the current Chair of the Customs Practitioners Group and her clients now range from small independent importers to global companies. Her business knowledge extends from manufacturers to retailers, including new e-businesses trading across the internet. Recent assignments include a review of the import business of a major high street supplier, obtaining zero duty (tariff suspensions) for a European chemical importer and a review of license arrangements for a major toy importer to reduce its liability to import duty.

Ian Worth

Ian Worth joined Mike Hodge Associates in April 2010, bringing with him experience of industry, practice and UK Customs.

Ian's commercial experience comes from the technology and automotive sectors, where he had EMEA customs management roles, which involved frequent travel to The Netherlands, US, Hungary and Luxembourg. His 12 years of professional practice experience included starting a customs practice from scratch with BDO Stoy Hayward, building on his earlier experiences with KPMG and PwC. During 15 years' service in UK Customs, Ian covered all the inland customs regimes, most of the excise regimes, as well as some involvement in betting and gaming duties, CAP and investigation work.

Ian is particularly strong in tariff classification, customs valuation and duty reliefs, having implemented a large proportion of the current PCC (Processing under Customs Control) authorisations in the UK. He has had dealings with Customs Authorities in Ireland, Italy and The Netherlands, has undertaken export controls training in Egypt, Serbia and Germany, contributed to AEO applications in Ireland and Romania and undertaken a customs compliance audit in the US.