Work on reported poverty (5)
I believe the answer is:
knead
'work' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'reported poverty' is the wordplay.
'reported' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'poverty' becomes 'need' (need is a kind of poverty).
'need' is a homophone of 'KNEAD'.
'on' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for knead that I've seen before include "Work dough or massage flesh" , "Work with finger movements" , "Work together" , "Massage - naked (anag)" , "Work flour into dough manually" .)