Your State Pension, five ways

Full new State Pension (£/week) by tax year

Triple lock   Earnings link only   CPI only   Flat 2.5% a year   Adjusted lock

What you'd receive: 2029/30 to 2053/54

NI gap-fill — Buying the NI years pays back

Deferral

You're claiming on time. Deferring adds 1% per 9 weeks (≈5.8% a year), CPI-linked only.

Next steps

1. This week — verify the inputs: check your official forecast at gov.uk/check-state-pension (Government Gateway / GOV.UK One Login) and confirm the qualifying-years count matches the 28 you entered — note any "starting amount" if you were contracted out before 2016, which can sit above or below the pro-rata figure used here. Then download your NI record (gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record), list each gap year by tax year, and mark which fall inside the last 6 tax years — normally only those can still be bought, so confirm each year's payment deadline before the April uprating.
2. Buy the 4 year(s): £3,827.20 via Class 3 (£18.40/wk × 52 each) adds about £31.46/week at State Pension age and pays back in ~2.29 years of drawing under the triple lock (2.32 years even under CPI-only). Call the Future Pension Centre (0800 731 0175) first to confirm each year will actually count, then pay the year with the oldest deadline first. Before paying, check whether the 3 year(s) you have left to State Pension age will fill the gap for free: up to 3 of the 4 year(s) could come from employment (earnings above the Lower Earnings Limit, £129/wk in 2026/27) or NI credits instead — buy only the shortfall, and re-run with futureNiYears set to the years you expect to earn.
3. Stress-test the uprating risk: under CPI only you'd receive £59,999 less over 25 years than under the triple lock (and £60,560 less in the 8% CPI shock case). Size your private pension / drawdown so you can live with the worst line, not the triple-lock line.
4. Deferral: you are claiming on time. Deferring at least 9 weeks would add 1% per 9 weeks (≈5.8% a year), but the extra only rises with CPI and typically takes 17+ years to break even — re-run with deferWeeks to price it.
5. Diary your State Pension claim: the DWP should write about 2 months before State Pension age (2029/30); claim online at gov.uk/get-state-pension or on 0800 731 7898 if no letter arrives. State Pension age is rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028 — check yours at gov.uk/state-pension-age. Save this report link and re-run it each April after the uprating announcement (Autumn Budget sets the figure; GOV.UK publishes the new weekly rate) — swap your startingWeekly and CPI/earnings assumptions for the actual numbers, and take regulated advice (unbiased.co.uk / MoneyHelper Pension Wise if 50+) before large Class 3 payments.