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Community-based randomised control trials (RCTs) rely heavily on the involvement and collaboration of statutory and third-sector services and their employees. This paper seeks to explore the experiences of practitioners working within a statutory children and family service setting that delivered additional parenting programmes evaluated by an RCT.

Practitioners completed a semi-structured interview about their experiences of the research trial based on a topic guide. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

Results suggest that the experience of being involved in research was mostly positive for practitioners, but also produced additional stress. The research brought them the experience of being involved with national and international teams; and they valued the additional supervision and training that they received. They spoke about the skills that they developed and how they were able to continue to use these after the research trial had ended.

Little is known about how services working alongside major research projects experience their involvement and what impact, if any, this has on them. This may be important as it could influence successful recruitment and retention of practitioners during RCTs, and the successful design and execution of other types of evaluation.

The Helping Children Achieve study is a randomised controlled trial designed to test the effectiveness of parenting interventions for children at risk of anti‐social behaviour. The paper aims to examine the challenges in recruitment to the HCA trial.

The study is on‐going and is being conducted at two sites: an inner city London borough and a city in the South West of England. In total, 395 participants consented to participate in the trial; 325 were assessed at baseline and 215 met the criteria and agreed to take part. Recruitment used population screens and referrals.

The screening procedure was more labour intensive but attracted greater numbers, including many parents who might not otherwise have sought help and included many families from disadvantaged backgrounds. The referrals included those with more serious problems and a higher proportion engaged with the service. Recruitment rates were lower in the London site due to ineligibility and greater difficulty in accessing schools. Retention in the two areas was similar.

The study provides data on recruitment challenges and lessons learned that could help formulate future policy regarding service delivery. Also of value is the finding that it is possible to conduct population screens in very deprived, multi‐ethnic areas and to get high rates of return.