Lately needing to depend on having little money (8)
I believe the answer is:
recently
'lately' is the definition.
(I know that lately can be written as recently)
'to depend on having little money' is the wordplay.
'to depend on' becomes 'rely' (to rely on something is to depend on it).
'having' indicates putting letters inside.
'little money' becomes 'cent' (coin of little value).
'rely' going around 'cent' is 'RECENTLY'.
'needing' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for recently that I've seen before include "Lately" , "Not so long since" , "Happening not long ago" , "Adverb meaning not long ago" , "Of late" .)