whilst the "gateway"is good, it can be a bit misleading. According to the gateway I still need to make contributions. (although I do have the required number of years and will get (at present) the full state pension. So I have also got a written forecast (I think I used a BR19 form) that confirmed I do not need to make any more contributions.
I retired at 55 (just) so had 12 years before before I get my state pension.
On the other hand we thought the wife would be OK, but we need to make another 5 years contributions for her to get a full state pension. We have yet to decide if it is worth paying it or just take a lower state pension (From memory I think it would take over 6 years to "get back" the differance.)