Paid father out a pound, a point of doing nothing (4)
I believe the answer is:
idle
'doing nothing' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'paid father out a pound a point' is the wordplay.
'father' becomes 'pa' (pa is a kind of father).
'out' is a deletion indicator.
'a pound' becomes 'l'.
'a point' becomes 'e' (E is an example).
'paid' with 'pa' taken away is 'id'.
'id'+'l'+'e'='IDLE'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for idle that I've seen before include "Unoccupied or not in use" , "Fruitless" , "jobless" , "Slothful" , "Member of comedy team" .)