Hypocrite taking pence before he accepts a pay increase (8)
I believe the answer is:
pharisee
'hypocrite' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'pence before he accepts a pay increase' is the wordplay.
'pence' becomes 'p'.
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'accepts' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pay increase' becomes 'rise' (I've seen this before).
'a'+'rise'='arise'
'he' enclosing 'arise' is 'harisee'.
'p'+'harisee'='PHARISEE'
'taking' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for pharisee that I've seen before include "(Gospel) hypocrite" , "Air sheep (anag.)" , "Self-righteous person - one of an ancient Jewish sect" , "Strict follower of Jewish law" , "Member of ancient Jewish sect; Heap, sire (anag.)" .)