Maintenance advice please.

[Tortoise]

Xp has been paying £25 a week for DS1 14 and DS2 12 for about a year now. I've worked out on csa website that he should be paying nearly double that amount and a few weeks ago I said to him he needs to up payments.
He has them Friday evening until Saturday evening every week.
I asked again tonight and he said he spoke to 'his' solicitor for advice! And is waiting to hear back from him. I said to him if he doesn't believe he should be paying more then look on csa website but he says he can't afford to pay more.

He is single and living with his mum. Doesn't take DSs out anywhere when he has them, they play on xbox or pc all day. Works full time so I can't see how he can say he can't pay more.
He does put a bit towards school uniform in summer holidays but doesn't think about the fact they need clothes all year round and as teen boys they need plenty of food!
Am I right to ask for more money or just struggle on and forget it?

Yes you are right to ask for more money. I imagine if he did speak to his solicitor he would have been told to pay up actually!
Do you have a solicitor? (Do you have a job and did you take that into account along with his 2 nights a week?)
It is certainly worth avoiding all that if possible. You need to make it clear that unless he pays up you will go to the C.S.A. and I think they might look at getting it back-dated too. Just say it to him clearly and reasonably...?
My ex made all sorts of excuses and he was earning a lot, though he did have a lot of self-inflicted debt. When threatened with the CSA he upped the amount.

I'm not working, on jsa at the moment so looking for work. Just started voluntary work in local charity shop .
I don't have a solicitor. I think what he meant was that he spoke to someone at a solicitors that he used about 6 years ago! All just to make it sound better on his side lol!
He has them one night a week, just Friday nights. Occasionally he will have them 2 nights but not very often at all!

You don't need a solicitor (unless you're in the process of divorcing or something). You just need to ask him firmly to increase the amount to the amount the CSA website says he should pay (remembering to deduct 1/7 for having the DCs once a week) and if he still won't pay, go through the CSA to get the money.

If he thinks that he can under-pay because he's contributing in kind (school uniforms, etc) then you could say that you'll meet those costs yourself once he's paying the right amount (you may have to, as there's nothing's going to force him to contribute to them)

Better to avoid CSA if you can as they aren't always great at getting the money, and if your ex has any earnings that are cash in hand or by some other means that he's likely to manage to hide from the CSA then you'll still be under-paid. But well worth the threat, and probably worth doing it if he still continues substantially under-paying.

Maybe give him a few days first, in case he has actually spoken to a solicator, who will no doubt tell him that he needs to pay the amount the CSA say he should pay.

Thanks, that's great.
Never married (thank god!) .