Ineffectual person made to reform, coming into fortune (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
lame duck
'ineffectual person' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'made to reform coming into fortune' is the wordplay.
'to reform' is an anagram indicator (letters in a new form).
'coming into' is an insertion indicator.
'fortune' becomes 'luck' (synonyms).
'made' is an anagram of 'amed'.
'amed' placed inside 'luck' is 'LAME DUCK'.
(Other definitions for lame duck that I've seen before include "Useless person or thing" , "Ineffectual person or thing" , "not an effective official - with 20d" , "Person losing power towards the end of a term of office" , "Person (or bird?) incapacitated by injury etc" .)