There are benefits to deferring the pension. To include the elimination of the 3% Penalty if you retire prior to 60.

In addition to the increased Pension $$, delaying a year or two allows either withdrawing or converting Traditional IRA\401k $$'s at a lower tax rate.

Whether that's beneficial or not is certainly debatable.
Shoot, if you have enough cash built up, might even allow you to pull some capital gains out of a taxable account at the 0% tax rate.