No, you can put off claiming your state pension, for example if you are still working. In return you can get either a bigger pension or a lump sum.
If you put off claiming your State Pension for at least five weeks you can earn an increase to your State Pension of 1% for every five weeks you put off claiming. (This is equivalent to about 10.4% extra for every year you delay claiming.)
Alternatively, if you put off claiming your state pension for at least a year, you can get a lump sum. There are more details about deferring your pension on the Direct Gov website. You can also get a State Pension forecast telling you in today's money the State Pension you have already earned and what you can expect to have earned by State Pension age. It will also include details of your additional State Pension, if you have one.
