Top-rated cops who stick around despite being eligible to retire are now getting a sizable bump in pension — as lawmakers try to retain qualified officers after a massive exodus at the NYPD, The Post has learned.

The incentive, which was buried in one of Albany’s recently signed budget bills, will increase elite NYPD cops’ retirement salaries if they delay putting in their papers past 20 years, leading to an added pension payout of up to $12,000 annually.

Under the bill, first-grade cops who retire with 25 years on will get a bump from $105,000 to $112,000 as part of their two-year aggregate salary used to calculate retirement benefits. That increases to $125,000 after three decades.

The change comes after a bipartisan group of 28 New York City Councilmembers lobbied Albany to help with the department’s recent retention issues, which has led to hundreds of cops calling it a career as soon as, even before, they hit their 20-years.

“We’re very happy that Albany has taken up our appeal to help out long-term serving members of the police department,” said Keith Powers (D-Manhattan), who led the lobbying effort.

“As we’ve seen the last few years it’s been a challenge to maintain long-term, high-quality officers, and I’m grateful for Albany to include this measure in the budget that had broad support from the NYC council,” he added.

Over the past 10 years, the NYPD has lost nearly 1,000 first-grade officers, who are proven to be the best of the best, with 25 years on to retirement and more than 200 with 30 years of experience.

The retirement salary increase will lead to a $700,000 pension fund increase next year and is expected to tick up each following year, the bill says.

City lawmakers argued in their plea to Speaker Carl Heastie that the change would be a “cost-effective benefit” to retain experienced cops.

“While the cost of this proposal is modest, the impact on the safety of New Yorkers is great,” their March letter reads.

The retirement bump was praised by the department’s top union.

“We have lost far too many of our most talented, experienced police officers to retirement or other policing jobs with better benefits and a better quality of life,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said.

“We’re grateful to all of the elected officials in Albany and City Hall who supported this common-sense retention incentive, which will help keep some of our best cops on the job,” he continued and added, “However, we still have a long way to go to get NYC police officers the competitive benefits and working conditions they deserve.”