Had recourse to being reclassified (8)
I believe the answer is:
resorted
'had recourse to' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'being reclassified' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'being' could be 'ted' (Ted is an example) and 'ted' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for resorted that I've seen before include "turned to" , "Given new order" .)