The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 12 letter word NEER-DO-WELL
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
N
E
E
R
-
D
O
-
W
E
L
L
More clues leading to the result NEER-DO-WELL
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Useless" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case useless = neer-do-well.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.