Police are considering a limited inquiry into claims that Sir Edward Heath was a child sex abuser, avoiding a full criminal investigation, which would be longer and costlier, the Guardian understands.

Those favouring the limited inquiry believe it may give potential victims validation more quickly than a full criminal investigation.

The former Conservative prime minister, who died 10 years ago, emerged this week at the centre of allegations received by eight police forces. The possibility of not launching a full-scale criminal inquiry is one option under consideration by police.

Police chiefs have differing views. One supporter of a limited investigation said of the former prime minister: “He is dead and not a threat to anyone else,” adding that the emotion surrounding historical child abuse cases may deter police from taking this route.

Another source said there were good reasons for a full investigation: “Are there accomplices out there who are still free?”

If police launch a full criminal inquiry, they will be committing themselves to a long and complex investigation that would be prolonged by the need to build a case to the criminal standard – beyond reasonable doubt. The main advantage of this approach is that it may avoid any fresh cover-up claims against the police, and could ascertain whether Heath had any living accomplices, if offences were committed in the first place.

Sir Edward Heath child abuse allegations reaction – video Guardian

The disadvantage is the cost and the fact that the target of the investigation died in 2005, meaning there can be no trial.

A scaled-back investigation, described by one police chief as the common sense approach, has the benefit of offering victims quicker official validation. It could acknowledge that any abuse had happened, on a balance of probabilities. That would mean that any victims would be able to apply for criminal injuries compensation.

The Guardian understands that under the terms of official guidance, investigators and police chiefs faced with inquiring into allegations of historical sex abuse can refuse a full criminal investigation.

Another senior source said: “We are not going to dump it. A judgment has to be made on the risk, harm and needs of victims.”

Other issues could be picked up by other agencies or inquiries. For instance, the Independent Police Complaints Commission could investigate whether police forces had covered up the allegations against the former prime minister, or failed to investigate them, and the reasons why. In effect they are already doing so, having this week announced an inquiry into Wiltshire police.

Officials on the Goddard inquiry into child sex abuse have also been following developments in this case. Claims about Heath are expected to feature in that inquiry, which is looking into establishment involvement in abuse and whether it was covered up.

Officials from the Goddard inquiry have been in discussions about Heath in the past week with police at Operation Hydrant, which is attempting to coordinate historical child sexual abuse investigations around the country.

A decision about the scale of the police inquiry into Heath will be made by the force that will lead the police response. That decision may be taken this week.

Sir Hugh Orde, the former police chief, said a full criminal inquiry into Heath would waste money and do nothing for any victims. Orde, a former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “It can’t deliver justice, he can’t be prosecuted. Does this help the victims, the answer is no.”

Publicity following the revelations of abuse by Jimmy Savile has led to an explosion in claims of recent and historical sexual abuse. Since 2012, claims of historical abuse have risen 165% to 52,446, with police trying to decide how to allocate resources between allegations that may be decades old, and more recent ones where there is a better chance of conviction and where alleged offenders may pose a greater risk of reoffending.

Heath, who was the Conservative prime minister from 1970 to 1974, has been the subject of rumours for decades, but only this week did they become common knowledge.

On Monday Wiltshire police launched a public appeal for victims to come forward and the IPCC announced that it was investigating claims that officers had dropped a prosecution in the 1990s after a person charged with offences threatened to name Heath as a child abuser.

Wiltshire police in western England, where the former prime minister had a home close to Salisbury Cathedral, are among the forces that have received claims Heath was involved in child sexual abuse.

Heath died in 2005 at the age of 89, and his friends and supporters have denied the allegations.