Official admitting hesitation over having more autonomy (5)
I believe the answer is:
freer
'having more autonomy' is the definition.
(autonomy means freedom to do what you want)
'official admitting hesitation over' is the wordplay.
'official' becomes 'ref' (match official in football, say).
'admitting' indicates putting letters inside (admit can mean to welcome in or accept).
'hesitation' becomes 'er' (sound made while hesitating - um, er).
'over' is a reversal indicator.
'ref' going around 'er' is 'reerf'.
'reerf' backwards is 'FREER'.
(Other definitions for freer that I've seen before include "More at liberty, less restrained" , "Less constrained" , "Less restricted" , "less inhibited" .)