The Audit Office is making enquiries with Belfast City Council following concerns raised over a £1million fuel poverty fund.
The council's Fuel Poverty Hardship Fund aims to help households during the cost-of-living crisis by handing out vouchers of up to £100 to help with energy bills.
But the scheme has faced criticism over its eligibility criteria and how funding has been allocated.
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Nine "partner organisations" were appointed to administer the scheme, with vouchers distributed on a "first come, first served" basis.
An academic labelled the scheme "Dickensian" after reports of people queueing for hours in a bid to receive a voucher.
One man who tried to secure a voucher told Belfast Live the roll-out was a "shambles".
The Audit Office confirmed it has requested sight of a council report looking at the practice of using partner organisations to distribute hardship funding.
Alliance councillor Sam Nelson, who met with the Audit Office to raise concerns, accused the DUP and Sinn Féin of a political "carve-up".
He said partnership organisations were first used to "act quickly" during the Covid-19 emergency but since then the same structure to allocate funding has been used "with absolutely no review".
The councillor added: "The DUP/SF block have continually pushed through the same groups again and again.
"The fact that they unilaterally swapped in and out new partners, with no competition for the Fuel Poverty Hardship Fund, is also of concern and reeks of a carve-up.
"Alliance has no issue with any of the partners, but we have always believed in open and transparent processes."
The scheme also faced criticism for enabling households earning up to £60,000 a year to apply for the vouchers.
A Green Party bid to reduce the threshold to £43,000 was rejected by 30 votes to 24, with Sinn Féin and DUP councillors voting against the proposal.
Eligibility criteria also extended to households entitled to free school meals, facing recent unemployment, receiving means-tested benefits, or those with energy bill debts.
Six of the nine partner organisations have closed the scheme to new applications within weeks of it being approved by the council, according to its website.
Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick, a law lecturer at Ulster University, last week branded the scheme "Dickensian" and "hugely degrading that people are having to queue up and hope they make the cut".
On Tuesday she told the BBC's Nolan Show: "What this very well-intentioned scheme has exposed is the depth of need in the city."
She added: "It's just so important that we put people's dignity at the heart of processes like this, and in order to do that there needs to be a consistent approach on a city-wide basis."
One of the partner organisations said that while there is a "solid" rationale for the scheme, "the distribution method and the criteria are not".
Forward South Partnership told the Belfast Telegraph that "inconsistency and inequality appears to have been built into the scheme and that has caused frustration and tension".
People Before Profit councillor Matt Collins branded the process a "political carve-up" and said community groups had been "cherry-picked by the DUP and Sinn Féin".
In response, Sinn Féin said community organisations "have gone above and beyond" to help those in need during the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.
"Community workers and organisations work to improve our communities on a daily basis and they operate to the highest standards," a spokesperson added.
"Councillors should support the fantastic job that these community organisations do, instead of seeking to undermine them."
The party also said Alliance supported having just one city-wide partner for the scheme "without any open call or due process".
The DUP was also approached for comment.
A council spokesman said the hardship fund "is being looked after by partner organisations in each part of the city".
He added: "Members agreed at council that roll-out of the fund should begin as soon as possible, and that partner organisations would be responsible for highlighting and communicating information about the scheme within their own areas.
"As expected, the fund has received a lot of interest, and all the vouchers in a number of areas have now been allocated. Our website is being updated regularly to reflect areas that are closed for applications."
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