ESRC: External Review and Right to Reply

I called the ESRC to shed a bit more light on how they deal with external reviews. As you may know, they don't externally review 'small' grant applications (£100k); the decision as to whether to fund the application is taken by two of the Research Board members. For their standard grants (>£100k) the applications do get sent out for external review, but you only have a right to reply if you are seeking more than £500k. If you're application is between £100k - £500k you only find out what the reviewers said after you've been informed of the outcome. Seems a bit harsh: the decision to (not) fund might well have been based on some confused or misinformed reviewer.