What am I missing?

I pulled another bike out of the work skip the other day. Awful make (Ammaco?) and a bit weathered but appeared in servicable condition with little time.

However, there's something amiss with the rear hub, it's wobbly and generally has way too much play in it for it to just be wear. I took it off to have a look and this is the state of the cassette/freehub. Basically the bolt going through the middle wobbles a fair bit. In my very limited experience, there should be a lockring type thing that holds the cassette on, but the cassette is on fine, it seems there's something that should brace the centre bolt to the cassette and make it secure/stop the rattling. Any ideas or is it back to the skip?

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That's an old freewheel and so doesn't require a lockring to hold it on. It's threaded onto the hub much like a fixed sprocket.

Sounds like the axle cones need tightening up a bit or the bearings are shot.

Or axle has snapped.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html

I pulled another bike out of the work skip the other day. Awful make (Ammaco?)

Back in the skip with you!

Cheers for the info, everyone. Seems it doesn't have a cone of any description on the drive side. Have dismantled the hub and it seems to be 3 bearing short on the drive side, too. Don't know what's happened, but it aint pretty.

Edit, it does have a drive side cone, maybe the lack of bearings contributed to the wobble.

I hate to waste a potentially working bike, but it's looking more and more likely.

if the cups inside the hub are smooth then theres nothing to worry about, its still usable, just rebuild it, new Axel and bearings are cheap to get. even if it isn't usable, its only a wheel. replace with another.

ammaco are a funny brand, they've been around for ages, based in maidstone originally and the name stands for "A Malcolm, Malcolm And Colin Organisation".