Suspicious of accepting it as a handout (7)
I believe the answer is:
charity
'a handout' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'suspicious of accepting it' is the wordplay.
'suspicious of' becomes 'chary' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'accepting' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are accepted).
'chary' placed around 'it' is 'CHARITY'.
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for charity that I've seen before include "Act of giving to those in need" , "Alms" , "Giving to the needy" , "Help for needy" , "Benevolence" .)