Meagre wages, later regularly accepted (6)
I believe the answer is:
paltry
'meagre' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'wages later regularly accepted' is the wordplay.
'wages' becomes 'pay' (I've seen this before).
'regularly' means one should take alternating letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'accepted' is an insertion indicator.
The alternate letters of 'later' are 'ltr'.
'pay' going around 'ltr' is 'PALTRY'.
(Other definitions for paltry that I've seen before include "Mean - trifling" , "Mean, petty" , "Petty - worthless" , "Petty - trifling" , "Meagre, mean" .)