Having the dole reduced by pounds, is beastly (3)
I believe the answer is:
doe
'pounds is beastly' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'having the dole reduced by' is the wordplay.
'having' becomes 'oe' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'reduced' indicates taking the first letters (the word is reduced to its first letter).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
The initial letter of 'dole' is 'd'.
'oe' put after 'd' is 'DOE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for doe that I've seen before include "A female deet" , "female in the field?" , "Female hare" , "partner for a buck" , "Female kangaroo" .)