Cessation of work means reduction in pay (8)
I believe the answer is:
stoppage
'cessation' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'of work means reduction in pay' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
'work' could be 'page' (paging is a kind of working) and 'page' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'stp' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stoppage that I've seen before include "Refusal to work" , "Deduction in wages" , "Onstruction in pipe or interruption in game" , "Mini-strike" , "action by strikers" .)