The National Association of Pension Funds is launching an initiative for its members to contribute to a £2bn pooled fund to invest in infrastructure. It will be capable of achieving a return of between two and five percentage points over the retail price index in the long term.

The NAPF wants to launch the initiative by next January. It has not yet decided whether to manage schemes directly or use third-party private equity managers to look after projects, according to chief executive Joanne Segars. It has worked with the UK Treasury in developing the idea, but Segars stressed the NAPF initiative would be run separately from government.