I expected this sort of reply, and if you are happy for a fifth of your hard earned money (above £7.5k which is tax free) plus another 11% of everything you earn in NI (so after £7.5k you are now paying 31%) to be used to fund people who are too lazy to get a job then thats fine, but I'm not. I'm not saying these 8 people are like that and fair play to them for making the effort to improve their job prospects, I really hope they do and that it leads to them getting a job. Its the ones who sit on their arses expecting everything for nothing that I dont like, then the government reward them for doing it. Yes there are 2.5m people unemployed, but how many job vacancies are there which these people could easily take but dont? If there were 2.5m unemployed and not a single vacant job available I would understand. But when there are millions of vacant jobs out there that they refuse to take then I have no sympathy for them. Why can this scheme not be available for people who are in low paid employment who want a better job? Are they not just as deserving? If anything I'd say they are more deserving as at least they are trying to get by earning a legitimate wage rather than sponge off the government. As for the city and country would be better off? Actually quite the opposite, they would be far worse off as if there were not the likes of me then there would be no taxes/NI paid so you could wave goodbye to the NHS, fire service, police, schools, libraries, all council services and even tarmacced roads as there would be no money to pay for it. Plus no money to give 'dole' to the spongers and no money to pay for this scheme. (by the way before you say it I do know that my contributions do not solely cover all of the above, these are just examples of things paid for by tax/NI money) P.S I dont want to know the background of these people, I give money to certain charities I feel need it most and need it genuinely, I dont do it for any sort of conscious relief as I dont need it, my conscience is perfectly clear. I've done everything by the book all my life so have no need to 'appease' anything. I studied and worked to get myself into a decent job earning a wage to legitimately pay my way. I give to my chosen charities because I feel they deserve it.

Anybody who wants to know why this country is going down the tubes only needs to read 'Disgruntled.' What a load of self serving twaddle he writes! This country has a quarter of its population living in poverty (that's the official figure and it's probably a great deal higher) and over two and a half million unemployed (again the official figure, deliberately distorted) and he complains about a tiny modest scheme that helps a few people! I suggest 'Disgruntled' goes to live in the USA where his kind of mind set prevails in government even more than it does here. I say good luck and thanks to Everton in the Community, Marcus Johnstone and Scott Black. Our city and country is better off without the likes of 'Disgruntled.'

Disgruntled, sounds to me like you're just appeasing your conscience, by gving money to charity. You don't know the background, circumstances etc. of these 8 people. Give them a chance, and they may get employment, may get an income, and then they can pay taxes like you, and the other 90-odd percent of us (apart from those who are legitimately allowed to fiddle their taxes!!!). Well done EFC, and well done Blue Kipper for letting us know about the scheme. Joe Dids, Bury

I may be asking to become the subject of a tirade of abuse here but I actually dont agree with this. Its rewarding people for being unemployed. If I want a tour around goodison and 'sessions' where I can 'improve my ball skills' I have to pay, using the money I worked hard for in the job I got by studying at school. Even when I left school I was told schemes like this and a lot of unemployment agencies couldn't help me 'because I had GCSE's and A-Levels' this meant I should be able to 'find a job myself without their help' I'm all for helping people out but I think its wrong to say some people are entitled to the help and others aren't simply because they put a bit fo effort in to trying to achieve something for themselves. Its telling kids dont bother working hard in school to get a decent job, just wait until you're out of school and unemployed then get charities and the government to fix it all for you using money from the mugs who did work hard and ended up paying taxes or being generous enough to donate. Dont get me wrong I do donate to charity, just wish the money was better spent.