Gap Year Question when applying

- What is the plan of deferring entry
Is it apply as normal (Not defer) and unis may give conditional offers then send email to the unis to change my application to defer then the unis may say yes and when I meet the conditions in A Level, I have a deferred offer
OR
Apply as deferred entry in UCAS and email unis that I want to defer my entry then the unis say yes and may give conditional offers then when I meet the conditions in A Levels, I have a deferred offer.
Because of this question, my mum and I have argued about apply this year or next year. I think next year is better because I can write my experience and activities I will do in gap year to my personal statement.
BUT my mum think apply this year because it is important to get offers ASAP and my predicted grades and reference will not valid when I apply to unis and if I dont apply this year, UCAS will delete my record (I dont think so :/)
So which one is correct????
Thank you and sorry for asking many questions because I am confused

You might as-well apply this year and try to get the offers that you want and you can apply deferred now if that’s something you definitely want to do.
This also means that you will get the support from your school and college and be in a safe place because you have peace of mind in your gap year that you have a place already.
This also means that if you don’t get an offer from somewhere you really wanted this year you can always apply again next year as normal and try again for your dream uni.
Hope this helps but that’s what I would do if I were you.

So u mean I apply for this year as defer entry to try to get offers, right?

Yeah and then if you don’t get where you want you can try again next year

I agree, I would apply for deferred entry this year. There's not many disadvantage to applying next year: I don't believe UCAS will delete your record and predicted grades won't be valid only because you'll have achieved grades. However, applying this year will mean you can just enjoy your gap year stress free - unless you choose to reapply because you didn't get an offer from somewhere you wanted. You can still write about what you plan to do in your gap year in your personal statement (I would).
If you do choose to apply next year, you would probably have a lot less support from your school. They would still write your reference but I think it's nice to be able to ask questions about the process as you go.