How an increase in pay may present itself (5)
I believe the answer is:
arise
'present itself' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'how an increase in pay' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'an' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one) and 'i' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'arse' 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).
'may' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for arise that I've seen before include "Come to light" , "Turn up" , "Tower" , "Become apparent" , "Emerge" .)